Deidara's Daughter
by Chibi PO'd Hiei
Summary: Like the title says, this is a story about Deidara's daughter. This is what life would be like for her and the other ninja in a modern day setting. Better than it sounds. Rated T to be safe. GaaraXOC
1. Chapter 1

AN: As you can tell from the title, this story is about Deidara's daughter. This is also a modern day Naruto fanfiction complete with shinobi, jutsu, bijuu, jinchuuriki, kekkei genkai, the whole enchalada. This is how the chapters work. I'm going to start when she's five years old and in kindergarten and work my way up from there. The story doesn't really get started until the 9th grade, aka it will be one chapter for that year until the 9th grade. The other chapters are to show how she grows up, and to give the readers an idea of what happens to her to make her the way she is. Also, this is the first time I've tried something like this so please DO NOT FLAME me! Last but not least, this story is not going to be crazy and random like my other story Dawn of the Wolf, at least I'm not planning on making it that way.

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does...this is why these stories are called FANfiction...

It was a Monday morning, and I was still sleeping when Sasori came to wake me up for breakfast. He gently shook me awake. I yawned, "Not now daddy." As I rolled over trying to go back to sleep. "Hn. Wrong person," Sasori said, but I didn't care. I was tired and wanted to go back to sleep. He grabbed the covers and whipped them off the bed, "Its time to wake up, Fai." "I'm still tired, uncle Sasori, I wanna sleep more," I whined. Then Sasori did the evil trick that people always pull when you refuse to wake up, namely he turned on the lights.

I whimpered and put my head under the pillow, but Sasori had had enough. "Fai, you have until the count of three to get out of bed. One, two..." Even though I am only five, I knew that you can only push Sasori so far before he did something drastic. I quickly scrambled out of bed before he could say three. I stood there rubbing the sleep out of my eyes as Sasori remade my bed and laid out an outfit for me. "Hurry up and get dressed," Sasori ordered as he left the room.

I sleepily pulled on my white shirt with the picture of a teddy bear on it that said my teddy will kick your butt!, blue jeans, and white tennis shoes. Now fully awake, I ran down the hall of the two bedroom apartment that I lived in with my father and "uncle" Sasori. The living room was seperated from the kitchen by a half wall, and the dining room was in a space to the left of the kitchen. On the wall that was inbetween the living room and dining area was a small shrine with my mother's picture on it.

I didn't really know what it was for, but dad said that since mom couldn't be with us anymore the picture was there so she could watch over us. I don't know exactly what he meant by that, but I said good morning to mom's picture like I did every morning. She had dark brown hair and ocean grey eyes. I had inherited my father's sunshine yellow hair, but I had my mom's eyes. I went to the kitchen next to see my dad making pancakes, while Sasori sat at the dinner table reading the morning news.

I ran up to my dad and gave him a big hug, even though I only ended up glomping his leg. "Morning daddy!" I squealed. "Good morning, Fai-chan. I'll have your breakfast ready soon, un!" I let go of him and started jumping up and down excitedly. "Can have a big one daddy, please, please, please?!" "Of course, Fai-chan," he said as put a big pancake on my plate and handed it to me,"Here you go, un!" I ran over to the table with my plate when my father finally noticed which shirt I was wearing.

"Great exploding art, un! Sasori-danna, she can't wear that shirt to her first day of kindergarten, un!" Sasori turned to look at him, "The first day of school is when first impressions are made. She needs to wear her cutest outfit to make a good impression." "That's not her cutest outfit, un! Her cutest outfit is the one with the bird on it that says art is a bang! The shirt she's wearing now will make the other kids think she's antisocial, un." "You just like the other shirt because you made it for her, and what's wrong with being antisocial?" "Well, you just like the shirt she's wearing because you made it, un! I don't want her to be antisocial because my baby deserves some friends her own age."

"DADDY!" I screamed. He got out of Sasori's face and instantly ran to my side. "What is it, Fai-chan? Did you poke yourself? Spill something? Was the pancake too hot, un?!" He said going into full father panic mode. "My hands are eating my pancake!" I sniffed. I was born with mouths on my hands, just like my father. Only I couldn't control mine, and they were eating my pancake! Dad sighed,"Do you have any control over them yet, Fai-chan?" "No, they do what they wanna..." He sighed again and pinched the skin between my thumb and index finger, which made my mouths close.

Then he cut my pancake for me and handed me the fork. "Now remember to eat with the fork and not your fingers." "Okay daddy." I managed to eat the rest of my pancake, but the mouths on my hands didn't go down without a fight. They kept sticking their tongues out trying to grab the pancake pieces and making munching noises, but I didn't give them anymore cuz they already ate half my pancake. When I was done, I gave my plate to dad who rinsed it off and set it in the dishwasher. "Fai, have you brushed your teeth yet, un?" "No." "Well, go brush then. We've only got fifteen minutes before we leave." "I don't wanna." He gave me 'the look'. I turned around and went to the bathroom where I quickly brushed my teeth.

Sasori came in behind me after I was done. He grabbed the hair brush and brushed my hair back into a high ponytail like my dad's. Then it was time to leave so we headed to the door. My dad came up to us, and helped me put on a denim jacket. "Do you need a scarf, Fai-chan? Its a little cold today, and OHMYGOSHYOURSTILLWEARINGTHATSHIRT, UN!" "Too late to change now,"Sasori stated, "We need to leave or we'll be late." "Fine, but if no one talks to her I'll blame you, un!" "Um, daddy where are we going?" "Hm? Oh, today is the first day of school." "You're telling her this JUST NOW?!" Sasori said incredulously. "Eh, well I forgot, un. Anyways, I'll tell you on the way."

So we left the apartment, and dad was telling me all about school. He had enrolled me in a school for gifted children. He said that it was called Kunai Elementary. He was making it all sound like a whole lot of fun, and I was actually getting excited to be going. "And the very best part," he said, "Is that its a girls only school so there won't be any boys there, un!" "Oh for pete's sake, Deidara they are five years old!" "That's already too old, un!" "I swear the Overprotective Fathers of Japan Society is less protective of their children then you!" "Hmph. Whatever. Just remember, Fai-chan, boys have cooties and are icky." "Okay daddy," I said. I was five and already thought that anyways. "I pity the first boy she brings home," Sasori muttered. "What was that, Sasori-danna?" "Nothing."

Finally, we arrived at the school. Dad and Sasori walked me to my classroom. "Okay, Fai-chan, here's your class. Now you be a good girl for your sensei, un." "Aren't you coming too daddy?" "No, Sasori-danna and I have a mission today, and we won't be able to pick you up so Tobi will walk you home and baby sit, un." "But I want to stay with you!" I started crying. Sasori leaned down to my eye level. "Now, Fai, we leave all the time for missions. This is the same as that except you get to play here with a bunch of kids your age," Sasori reasoned. I stopped sniffling and look at him. "And I'm sure that Tobi'll let you eat ice cream until you puke when you get home,un," dad added. I grinned at that, who wouldn't. I was going to get all the ice cream I could eat; it was like Christmas and my birthday rolled into one. "Okay, bye daddy. Bye uncle Sasori. I love you!" With that, I left them behind as I entered the classroom.

I was scared out of my mind. If it wasn't for the promise of ice cream I would have run out screaming. There were a bunch of girls my age in the room talking and giggling with their friends. I had never had any friends my own age because of my father and Sasori's positions in Akatsuki. I didn't know what to do, and I was scared and alone. Then I saw a pink haired girl quietly sitting in the corner with a blond haired girl. They didn't seem to be as loud and giggly as the other groups of girls so I went over to them. "Um, hi," I said timidly.

"Hi! I'm Yamanaka Ino!" the other blond, Ino, said, "And this is my friend Haruno Sakura," she said introducing the pinkette who gave a small, "Hi." "I'm Katsura Fai." "Hey, Fai-chan, wanna sit with us?" Ino asked. "Y-yeah!" I said. I think I might've just made my first friends. I looked from the smiling blond to the pinkette. "Um, why are you looking down all the time?" I asked. "Because of my big forehead!" she said sadly. "Huh, but your forehead looks okay..." I didn't get it. I thought her forehead looked fine. "See, Sakura-chan," Ino said, "I told you that your forehead wasn't that big." Sakura looked up at me and smiled. Yep, I had definitely made my first friends, and I couldn't have been happier.

The sensei came in shortly after that, and I took a seat between Ino and Sakura. Our sensei introduced herself as Mihara-sensei. The first thing that she did was teach us some math. Then we went over basic history and basic shinobi history. I soon found out that Sakura was really smart because she already knew most of what the sensei was talking about. Ino didn't know as much, but she was making really funny jokes about Mihara-sensei when her back was turned. Next thing I knew, it was recess.

Well, not really recess because Mihara-sensei wanted us to pick flowers into a boquet, but since Ino was really good with flowers we finished really early and were playing ring around the rosie. Unfortunately, my hands decided to make their debut appearance. "Eew! Your hand is wet!" Ino squealed as she dropped my hand. "OUCH! You pinched me!" Sakura accused, looking hurt. It was then that they say the mouths on my hands. "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!" They shrieked loud enough to bring Mihara-sensei and the entire class running over.

The other girls arrived on the scene first and got a beautiful view of my hands with mouths on them. "Ewww!!!!!! What are those?!!" "Hey, look at the freak!" "Woah, gross!" "It stuck its tongue out at me!" "Wierd!" "No way!" Then Mihara-sensei finally got there. "What happened?" "We were playing with her," Ino said pointing at me, "And her hands bit us!" Sakura was crying too hard to say anything at all. "I didn't mean to!" I said, "They just do what they wanna!" "Okay, class," Mihara-sensei said, "What Katsura-san has is called a kekkei genkai. Its a special ability that is passed down through certain shinobi families. Different kekkei genkai give their owners different abilities. There's nothing to be afraid of. This is just the Katsura bloodline ability."

Even though Mihara-sensei gave an explanation and brought everyone back inside right away, nothing would ever be the same again. When we all went inside to take our seats, no one would sit next to me, and Sakura and Ino were avoiding me. I sat all alone throughout the presentations of our floral arrangements. When I went up to present mine, Ino and Sakura loudly said that mine only looked half way decent because they told me what to pick, and everyone laughed at me. Mihara-sensei tried to restore order to the class room to no avail. I couldn't take it anymore. I ran out the door and to the bathroom where I fell and cried.

It was all because of my hands. My stupid stupid hands. Even now they were munching and sticking their tongues out, completly oblivious to the pain they had caused. I hated them, and I hated myself. I had just started crying again when an older girl with brown hair done up in two buns walked in. "Oh my gosh, are you okay?!" she asked concerned. She ran over and knelt beside me. "NO!" I screamed. "Don't look at them!" I tried to hide my hands, but she was too quick. She grabbed them, only to drop them as a look of horror crossed her face, and she ran out of the bathroom screaming.

I sat there and cried until I couldn't cry anymore. I didn't know how long that I was there, or what to do then so I went back to class. When I got there, everyone was learning reading and writing. Mihara-sensei was both really angry and really relieved that I came back. She told me that because of what happened she'd let it go once, but I could never run out of class like that again. She gave me the worksheet and told me briefly what they had gone over while I was gone. I sat down and did the worksheet alone. Still, even all of that wasn't as bad as what happened next.

It was the last class before we could all go home, and I was so happy. Soon Tobi-niisan (AN: nii-san means older brother and yeah its Japanese but I'm too lazy to keep writing big brother Tobi) would come save me from this nightmare. I just had to get through art class first. I thought that maybe if I apologized it would be better. I was wrong. Before I could even say anything Ino said, "We don't want you over here! Get lost!" Sakura finally found her voice, "Stay away from us, freak!" I walked away from them and everyone else. Still, it was a class so I needed to do something. Then I saw it. Modeling clay. I always saw dad carrying the stuff around. I didn't know why, but I just needed to hold it.

I walked over to the clay and reached for it. There was something mesmerizing about it. My mouths stuck their tongues out wanting to lap it up. Mihara-sensei reacted quickly and brutally. She ran up and smacked me, hard. So hard that I fell backwards with a bright red handprint on my face. "What do you think you're doing?! Are you trying to blow us all up?!!" She was scared, everyone could see it. I didn't know it then, but that blow would be what made the events today permanent. That blow branded me as a freak for life. The other girls were staring at me like I had sprouted a second head. Mihara-sensei sent me to the corner for a time out. Finally, the bell rang, and I was free.

I ran out of the building before anyone could say anything else to me, and I didn't stop until I threw myself on Tobi-niisan. "What happened to Fai-chan? Fai-chan is not happy." "Tobi-niikun!" I cried. I was so hurt that that was all I could say as I cried into his t-shirt. "Tobi will take Fai-chan home and make her favorite lunch because Tobi is a good boy." All I could do was nod as Tobi picked me up and carried me home. When we got there he made me green tea and monja. (AN: her school starts at 6:00 and ends at 1:30 so they don't have a lunch time) After I was done eating, Tobi let me watch all of my favorite movies and eat ice cream until I puked. I was feeling much better now, and I played videogames with Tobi until bedtime.

Tobi even read some of my favorite book to me before I fell asleep. "Good night, Tobi-niikun. Thank you." "Good night, Fai-chan. Tobi hopes Fai-chan has good dreams because Tobi is a good boy." He turned out the light and went out to the living room to wait for Sasori and dad to come back. The next morning they were back. Dad and Sasori were concerned because my teacher had called, but she didn't say exactly what I did that was so bad, just that I had been very naughty. I couldn't tell them. I couldn't bear to have them find out what happened. I was so scared that they wouldn't understand, and for the first time I lied and said that I didn't know why.

From that day on, all the other girls started teasing me and calling me mean names. They would pick on me and no one else. The entire school knew about me, no thanks to TenTen who had walked in on me in the bathroom. Everyone thought I was a freak, and everyone hated me. I was so sad and so hurt by everything that they said. I started wearing gloves to school to hide my hideous hands, but the teasing didn't stop. Dad and Sasori knew that something more than what they were being told was going on, but as long as I wasn't hurt and insisted that everything was fine there wasn't anything they could do. When summer vacation came, I couldn't have been happier or more relieved. For three months they couldn't do anything to me. For three wonderful months, I was free.

AN: Well, what do you think? Fai says stuff like wanna and gonna because she's five/six in this chapter, and I was trying to make her sort of think and sound like a five year old. I know that I probably failed miserably, but this is what happened to her in her first year of kindergarten. Also, she didn't tell her dad and Sasori because she's a little girl and she's scared that they'll react like her teacher did, just to make that clearer. Stick around and find out how she survives the first grade next chapter.


	2. Chapter 2

AN: Okay, people the second chapter is up! And a big, big thank you to those who cared enough to review! Also, I misspelled monju as monja last chapter, my bad! In case you're wondering, monju is a traditional japanese cake filled with a sweet bean paste, and I must say that its really good! Also, Fai lives in Japan in case you all haven't already figured that out already. For those of you who are keeping track, Fai is now in the six/seven age range and will be going into the first grade. Finally, this is the longest chapter I have written so far so I hope that it's not too long. Now, Sasori do the disclaimer!

Sasori: Hn. Why should I?

Me: Because if you don't Deidara will never make pancakes again!

Sasori: Darn it! Those pancakes are just too good. Fine. Chibi PO'd Hiei does NOT own Naruto or any of its affiliations, Masashi Kishimoto does. Wait, some guy owns me?!...I really didn't need to know that...

My first summer vacation was amazing! I didn't have to wake up at five in the morning to go to school at six so I got to sleep in. Dad said that the reason we had to get up so early in the morning to go to school was because ninja needed to get up really early to go on missions so they wanted to get us in the habit early, but I thought that was stupid. He also said that the reason we got out so early is because the older classes needed time at home to do ninja training. I got excited at the thought of ninja training. I really wanted to be a kunoichi like Aunt Konan and go on really dangerous missions like dad and Sasori did. Of course, I didn't tell that to dad because I was scared he might not let me become a kunoichi if he knew.

Today I was getting up extra early because we were going to the annual Akatsuki vacation retreat. Every year Pein-sama gave the Akatsuki members an all expenses paid one week vacation. I always went with daddy and uncle Sasori because there wasn't anyone outside of the Akatsuki that they trusted enough to babysit me, and I was already a part of the Akatsuki dysfunctional family even though I wasn't technically a member. I was really excited to be seeing everyone after a whole year, but I was even more excited to be spending a week with dad and uncle Sasori in Hawaii.

Still, Pein-sama was a big meanie because he made it so that we were taking a four-thirty a.m. flight. I could hear dad complaining about it from my room. "Could Leader-sama be any more of a sadist, un?! Four-thirty in the morning. Why would there even be flights from Japan to Hawaii at four-thirty in the morning, un?!" "There aren't. We're traveling in Leader-sama's private jet." "With everyone else I'll bet. Ugh, I don't want to spend ten hours on the same plane as Itachi-teme, un!" Whoa, I'd never heard that title before. What did that mean? I heard uncle Sasori walking down the hall towards my room, and I stood there waiting as he slowly opened my door.

"Oh, you're up already, Fai," he said mildly surprised. "I couldn't sleep. I can't wait to have fun with everyone!"I said happily. "Lets see how you feel about them after about ten hours in a plane with them," he said as he helped me make the bed. "Why would I feel different?" I didn't get it. Did the plane do something to people that changed them? Was the plane a monster? Sasori paused in the middle of putting todays outfit on the bed. "Well, grown ups get mad at each other if they stay too close together for too long,"Sasori said, "Remember what happened last year?"

I thought really hard. I didn't really remember last years vacation since it came before my first day of school, which seemed to have robbed me of any happy memories I had from before that. "Dad made a giant clay bird, and he flew on it!" I replied. It was really all that I could remember from that vacation because it was the most amazing thing that I had ever seen. "Do you remember why he made the bird?" Sasori pressed. I shook my head. Sasori sighed, "Its probably better that way anyways." I just stared at him. I was confused. What was better? "Get dressed, Fai. We really need to get moving."

I looked at the clothes that he had chosen for me to wear and grinned from ear to ear. It was my all time favorite outfit that dad and Sasori only let me wear when we were with the other Akatsuki members. I didn't know why I couldn't wear it everyday, but it wasn't allowed. I had tried everything to get them to let me wear it more often, but they had even resisted the puppy dog eyes. The outfit was a black sweater with red clouds that were outlined in white on it, and with it I wore black jeans, tennis shoes that also were black with the red clouds, the black leather fingerless gloves I always wore, and a white shawl. Once I had changed, Sasori wrapped the shawl around my head so that only my eyes could be seen.

Sasori himself was inside of his battle puppet, Akatsuki cloak, and the straw hat. (AN: no he's not wearing nail polish, none of the Akatsuki are. It'll be explained in another chapter.) He set me on top of the puppet he was in, grabbed my bags, and gave me a piggy back ride to the living room where dad was sitting drinking coffee. He was wearing his Akatsuki uniform too. "Good morning, Fai-chan. Are you ready?" I nodded excitedly. "Hehe, I guess that answers that, un. Hey, Sasori-danna, do you want a cup of the elixer of life, un?" dad asked holding up his coffee cup for emphasis. Sasori sighed, "I'm a living puppet, Deidara. I don't get tired." "Oh well, suit yourself, un," he said before draining the rest of his cup.

"I never thought I'd see the day when you needed coffee for energy," Sasori said in an almost teasing voice. "Hmph, I've never had to wake up at three in the morning, un," dad huffed. "Just do the transportation jutsu already, Deidara." "Fine, just make sure that Fai-chan doesn't fall off your back this time, un!" "She wouldn't have fallen off if you had gotten your coordinates right," Sasori growled. Dad just humphed at this as he grabbed the bags and began writing strange symbols on the floor. I honestly couldn't remember ever falling off of my uncle's puppet. If this is what school does, I hope that I never have to go back.

My dad finally finished, and Sasori walked into a small drawn circle. He lifted up one of the puppet's arms and grabbed onto me. "We're ready anytime now, Deidara." "Alright." Dad stepped into another one of the circles on the floor and began rapidly making hand seals. "Teleportation Jutsu!" There was a brief pause where nothing happened, and then it was like being inside of a tornado of color and sound. Then next thing that I knew we were standing inside of an aircraft hanger with other Akatsuki members poofing in around the airplane. They were also in their Akatsuki uniforms.

"Uncle Sasori, why do we have to cover our faces?" "Don't say names so loud. We're wearing disguises so if anyone sees they won't know who we are." "Why?" Sasori paused, "Well, ninja need to remain in the shadows to survive. If ordinary people knew about us, our lives as we know them would cease to exist." He must've sensed my confusion because he added, "Your sensei at school will explain it." I felt my heart plummet in my chest. I would have to go back and relive the nightmare. However, my spirits quickly lifted when I heard a voice behind me,"Well, how's my favorite little ankle biter been?" "UNCLE KISAME!" I squealed in delight as he lifted me off Sasori and put me on his shoulder.

"What did I just tell you about saying names?!" Sasori yelled at me. He was seriously mad now. "Aww, come on Sasori give her a break," Kisame lept to my defense, "She's just a kid." "Even though I hate to admit it, the puppet has a point," a voice said from the shadows. I knew that voice, and I didn't like Itachi because he was mean. "Yeah, well you never liked little kids anyways, Itachi," Kisame retorted. "Whatever," Itachi said as he went to the congregating group of members. Sasori sent me a warning look, "Remember, no more shouting names. It's dangerous." Then he turned and also headed towards the main group. Kisame looked up at me, "Don't worry about it. Everyone makes mistakes, besides its just us here. If they could be even more overly cautious, they would." I giggled at that. Kisame always knew what to say to cheer me up.

He gave me a ride over to the main group where everyone but Aunt Konan and Pein-sama had showed up. "Hello, Fai-chan," Tobi said, "Tobi is happy to see Fai-chan again because Tobi is a good boy." "Hi, Tobi-niisan. Do you have summer break, too?" "Yes, Tobi got to stay home for the summer because Tobi is a good boy." "Hey Tobi, quit hogging all the attention!" is the censored version of what Hidan said. "Hidan-niisan!" I said more quietly because I saw uncle Sasori glancing at me. I decided to ask Hidan-niisan what that word I heard this morning was because Hidan-niisan knew all kinds of words, "Hidan-niisan, what's a teme?"

I felt Kisame stiffen underneath me, and Zetsu who was standing next to us looked at me weird with both of his personalities. "Oh, that's one of those words that you don't repeat, Fai-chan," Hidan said without using any new words. "Oh, okay," I said. Dad had already explained the "bad word" thing to me so I understood that teme must be a bad word. He also said not to repeat any new words that Hidan said because they were bad too, but I didn't mind because Hidan-niisan was so cool.

"So are you going to let me hold her, Kisame, or do I have to kick your butt first?" Hidan challenged. "Tch, you couldn't hurt a fish let alone me, and I just got her from Sasori!" Kisame shot back. "Come on, you know that once Konan gets here it'll be half the vacation until I get to hold her!" "No." "Let me hold her." "No!" Hidan pulled out a dagger, "Alright, either hand her over or I'm using you as an offering to Jashin-sama!" "Grr...I'll get you for this later, Hidan," Kisame threatened as he lifted me off his shoulders. Hidan sheathed the dagger and held me piggy back style.

Zetsu commented, "What are those idiots doing fighting over a little kid, pathetic...Actually, she's kinda cute...No she's not...Yes she is...No she's not..." Zetsu then proceeded to get into a full blown argument with himself. Dad was talking to Tobi about art, and Sasori and Itachi were having a glaring contest. Meanwhile Kakuzu was in the corner balancing his check book.

Hidan grinned at me, "Heh, so how've you been, Fai-chan? Did they teach you anything at school yet?" I couldn't say it. I couldn't tell him that I let the other kids tease me. Hidan would've never taken anything from anyone. "No, nothing interesting anyways, and I'm okay." "Hmm? You sure? You don't sound okay. Normally you'd be talking a mile a minute," he said sounding concerned. "I'm okay Hidan-niisan, its just I'm tired. Its really early," I lied. "If you say so," he said, but he didn't sound convinced.

I was spared his suspicions because Pein-sama and Aunt Konan had finally arrived. As Hidan had said, the very first thing that Aunt Konan did was come running towards me, "FAAIII-CHAAAAN!!!!!!" she squealed. She knocked Hidan down and grabbed me out of the air and into a giant bear hug, "Oh, I've missed you sooo much, Fai-chan! You'll have to tell me everything on the plane!" "Crazy woman, going to give us all away," Uncle Sasori muttered crossly. Konan whipped around so fast that Sasori didn't even see her coming. "What was that, Sasori," she snarled, and let me say that Aunt Konan is twice as scary as Itachi when she gets like this. "Nothing, Konan-san. I was just admiring your...enthusiasm," Sasori said.

"Sasori, Konan," Pein-sama said, "Knock it off. I swear you two are almost as bad as Deidara and Itachi. Ahem, anyways get on the plane. Everyone's baggage is on board, and we only have another fifteen minute window to get out of here under the radar so make it quick," with that he entered the plane. We all followed him, with me being carried by Aunt Konan of course. The plane was gigantic, and the inside was the most expensive looking and beautiful interior that I had ever seen. It was a dark red color with white wood and black leather accents...It basically screamed Akatsuki private jet interior. Once inside, I took off my shawl and the Akatsuki members took off their cloaks and hats.

Pein-sama wanted to get the pre-vacation meeting done as soon as possible so all of the members were seated around the inplane table with people sitting on both sides of the table and Pein-sama at the head. Since I wasn't an actual member, I wasn't allowed in the meeting so Aunt Konan put me in the front part of the plane where the movie screen was. So for the first two hours, I sat there watching Beauty and the Beast (AN: just to dodge the massive fine, I DO NOT own Disney or Beauty and the Beast). Man, I loved that movie. I felt so sorry for the poor beast. I knew what it was like to be alone without friends outside your family. I didn't really notice the take off because I was so absorbed in the movie, and the popcorn, candy, and soda were really good too.

I was wishing that I was tired enough to fall asleep when the movie was finally over. Yeesh, the after movie boredom was too much like torture. Suddenly, I heard dad and Itachi yelling from the back of the plane, "YOU WANT HIM/ME TO DO WHAT?!!!!!!" I jumped out of my seat, and Dad and Itachi were still yelling by the time I got back up. By the time that I was listening again, I couldn't hear them anymore. At least, I couldn't until Pein-sama yelled over both of them, "THAT'S ENOUGH!!!!! THIS IS MY DECISION, AND IT'S FINAL!! THIS MEETING IS OVER!!!!!"

As soon as he finished saying that, Konan, Kisame, Tobi, and Hidan came running up to the front of the plane where I was at. "Oh, poor Fai-chan!" Konan sobbed as she smuthered me. "Man, you've got some tough luck, Fai-chan," Hidan said. "Tobi wishes that he could help Fai-chan, but Tobi won't disobey Leader-sama because Tobi is a good boy," Tobi said. "Hey, he's not that bad you guys," Kisame said trying to calm everyone down, "Sure he won't go easy on her, but he's not going to seriously hurt her."

"Your just saying that because he's your partner, Kisame! Itachi's almost as sadistic as Leader-sama!" Hidan snarled. Konan spun around and punched Hidan on the top of his head so hard that he fell over with a big lump where she had hit him. "Pein-sama is NOT a sadist!" Konan said in his defense. I lost interest in them at that point because dad, Sasori, and Itachi came over. Dad and Itachi were growling fiercly at each other, and they would've been at each other's throats if Sasori hadn't been standing in between them to keep them seperated. It was then that Pein-sama came into the room and silence fell as everyone watched him.

He calmly walked over to where I was standing on the seat and bent down slightly so he was on my eye level. "Hello, Fai." "Hi, Pein-sama. Um, why is everyone acting funny?" I asked. "Heh, you get right to the point, unlike some babbling idiots," he said pointedly looking at dad and Itachi, "So you've started ninja school right?" I nodded. "Well," he continued, "We're concerned that you won't progress rapidly enough with the sensei's at school so starting next summer you will also be instructed in the ninja arts by Itachi, and your father will begin showing you how to use your bloodline," he turned to Itachi and dad and asked challengingly, "Do either of you have anything to add?" Itachi and dad replied, pointedly not looking at each other, "No, Leader-sama." "Good." With that said, Pein-sama went to his small private office and shut the door.

It was a long flight after that because dad and Itachi kept arguing, and if they weren't arguing Kisame and Zetsu were. It got boring after a while, and I didn't want to talk about school but that's all that Konan wanted to talk about. Sasori was repairing a damaged puppet in the back of the plane where we didn't have to watch him. Tobi and Hidan were playing Halo on the movie screen so I couldn't watch any more movies, and Kakuzu had disappeared to reasses his budget, whatever that was. So I did what I always did when I was bored stiff. "Daddy," I called. Dad came over, "Yeah, Fai-chan." "Are we there yet?" Everyone did an anime fall, except Itachi because he was a jerk.

"No, its only been three hours, un." "Are we-" "Fai," uncle Sasori interrupted, "The pilot will tell us when we're there so stop asking." "Okay, uncle Sasori." "Jeez, Sasori you didn't have to bite her head off, un!" dad snapped. "Well, she was being annoying." "She was bored, what else is she going to do?" I'm starting to see what uncle Sasori meant when he said that grown ups got mad at each other when they were together on a plane for a long time. Anyways, that was pretty much how the rest of the flight was. Finally, the pilot said over the intercom, "Everyone please take your seats, we will be landing shortly. Please remember to change into civilian clothing before exiting the plane." (AN: the pilot and co-pilot are both minor Akatsuki members)

Aunt Konan and I were given Pein-sama's office to change in, and the guys just changed together in the main area. When we all came back together in the main room, I was wearing my white sundress with the red cherry blossoms on it, and Konan was wearing a tank top and shorts. All of the other Akatsuki members were wearing hawaiian print shirts and shorts. I didn't see Kisame though.

I ran over to dad and tugged on his shorts. "What is it, Fai-chan?" "Where did uncle Kisame go?" "Ha-ha-ha!" dad chuckled, "He's right there, un." He was pointing to an average looking man who had brown hair and brown eyes. "Thats not uncle Kisame." The strange man laughed and made a hand sign, and in a poof there stood uncle Kisame. I was amazed. I'd never seen something like that before. "Of course its me. Hey, don't look so impressed. Its just a simple genjutsu," He said, "Anyways, I can't let the civilians see a shark man running around. It'd give us away." He made a few more hand seals and transformed back into the average looking man. I looked around at everyone else to make sure they all looked the same as usual, and none of them were using a genjutsu.

However, Konan was complaining about what uncle Sasori was wearing. Uncle sasori was out of his battle puppet, but he was wearing a long sleeved white shirt and a pair of blue jeans. "Sasori-danna," Dad said, "Its going to be very suspicious that you're wearing something that warm in a tropical climate, un." "Sorry," Sasori apologized, "But if I don't wear long clothing people will see the puppet joints, and I don't want to explain to civilians or to the police that I'm a living puppet." "Just keep a low profile, Sasori," Konan said exasperatedly.

It was a few minutes before the plane went almost straight up and then it bounced as it touched down before finally coming to a stop. "We're here, Fai-chan," Dad said happily as I undid my seatbelt. He grabbed my hand as we all rushed outside and into the beautiful and scenic Hawaiian airport. We had no problems going through the whole airport process and getting our bags, but I couldn't understand a single word most of the people around us were saying.

"Daddy, why are they all talking funny?" "Hm? Oh, they're speaking English, un. Its a different language, Fai-chan. Most of the people here speak it, un." "Do you?" "I know enough to get around, but Sasori-danna is quite fluent, un." "You would be too if you had actually paid attention in English class, Deidara." "Yeah, yeah," Dad said in a voice that showed he could've cared less. We walked out of the airport, and I got my first look at Hawaii. There were palm trees and beautiful flowers everywhere. It was the prettiest place that I had ever seen, and then these really nice ladies who spoke that funny language came and gave us flower necklaces.

The next thing that I knew, we were climbing into a Hummer limo and getting chauffered to the luxury hotel that Pein-sama had booked for us. I got a seat next to the window and was staring in awe at the beautiful scenery. When we got to the hotel, we were shown to the fourth floor where our party had booked all ten rooms. There was a hallway brawl as everyone argued over who would get what room.

The rooms went in this order: Pein-sama, Itachi, Konan, Hidan, and dad and I got the right side rooms with the ocean view. Normally, our room would have gone to Sasori because he is one of the stronger members, but it was the only room with two beds in it so dad and I got it by default. Those on the left hand side with the city view were in this order: Kakuzu, Zetsu, Tobi, Kisame, and Sasori. Of course, uncle Sasori took the room right across from ours, even though he had to fight uncle Kisame for it.

We spent our first day in Hawaii getting over the plane sickness that dad said was called jet lag, and several members coughKisamecough had to recover from a few minor injuries. After a good nights sleep everyone was better, and we had the awesomest vacation yet! We did all sorts of cool things for the rest of the week. We went horseback riding on the beach, and Konan got stuck on a huge horse that was called a clydesdale (AN: its one of those giant horses that pulls wagons). She looked like a doll on top of a rocking horse, and she had this look on her face that clearly said get me off this thing! Dad and I looked over at her, and we were laughing about it for the rest of the ride.

We also went to a luao, and the food was almost as good as festival food back home. Aunt Konan even took me shopping, but it wasn't as fun as it sounded. She just made me try on clothes all day. We even spent a whole day relaxing at the hotel spa, and I enjoyed every minute of the pampering. On the last day of our vacation we went to the beach.

Itachi went for a jog, but we all knew that he was really running from his fangirls who were following him with hearts in their eyes. Meanwhile, uncle Kisame and Hidan-niisan were teaching me how to surf on the small waves. Konan was sunbathing with Pein-sama, and Kakuzu was cackling because we were saving money by playing at the beach. Tobi, dad, Sasori, and Zetsu were playing beach volleyball, and dad and Sasori were winning mainly because both of Zetsu's personalities were trying to play at the same time so he kept missing the ball. When Itachi got back from his "jog", he settled next to Konan and Pein-sama to work on his tan.

By now, I had wiped out a few times, but I was quickly getting the hang of surfing. I finally caught a small wave and rode it in. It was so cool! Uncle Kisame nearly crushed me in a bear hug, and Hidan-niisan started yelling for a camera. Of course, I went back out with uncle Kisame and rode another wave in so dad and Hidan could record it. Everyone had joined dad and Hidan on my second run to see me surf, and they all crowded around me when I got out of the water. Dad was so proud he actually started crying as he hugged me.

It was then that stupid Itachi had to ruin the moment. "You did a good job teaching, Kisame. Here I was under the impression that Katsura's couldn't surf," he said silkily. It was one of those here we go again moments.We all looked at dad, who wore a much too friendly smile as he said in equally silky tones, "Oh, and what would give you that impression, Itachi-san?" "Why, anyone who has ever seen you surf would think so too," Itachi said as casually as if he was talking about the weather. "Well, then I'll just have to prove you wrong, un." "Oh, and how do you plan on doing that? You would probably wipe out on a baby wave." "I could out surf you anytime, anywhere, un!" "Oh, really? Well, how about the north beach right now." Yep, dad had been led right into that one, but he was beyond caring about being set up at that point. "You're on, un!"

Now, we all had to see this so we packed up and followed dad and Itachi up to the north beach with all of Itachi's fangirls in tow. When we finally got there, Pein-sama dictated the rules, "You will both catch one wave and only one wave so make it good. You will be judged by the committee of one, and you will not argue with the committee of one. If you argue with me you will be...punished. Understood?" (AN: the committee of one is a one person judge, and he's referring to himself) Both dad and Itachi nodded in agreement before they hit the surf.

They both went out and started waiting for a good wave, and a really nice one came up. It was obviously going to be one of those perfect waves. Itachi and dad saw it coming and stared each other down. It was also obvious that whoever could catch that wave would win. Which is why they both started paddling like maniacs, each trying to catch it before the other person could. Itachi was starting to pull ahead of dad, but just before he could catch the wave Kisame cut him off from out of nowhere. We all shouted, "KISAME?!!!!" That's right, Kisame. We had been watching dad and Itachi so intently that no one had even seen him leave, much less paddle out into the ocean.

He caught the wave, which turned into a picture perfect thirty-five foot curler. He rode straight through the middle of that awesome wave and came out victorious on the other side. Of course, Hidan-niisan had captured the whole event with the video camera, and he was zooming in on the hilarious expressions that dad and Itachi had on their faces. It was classic! Kisame finally got the guts to swim back to shore. "Sorry, guys," he said while awkwardly rubbing the back of his head, "I just couldn't help myself." Dad got over his shock and started laughing at the situation, while Itachi sulked with his fangirls. "The committee of one has decided that the winner is Kisame!" Pein-sama announced unnecessarily. Yep, that was the best day out of the entire vacation hands down.

The next day, we had to get up really early again and fly back to Japan. Once again, I was really really bored, and there was a lot of arguing. However, we made it back without any problems and went our seperate ways. When we finally got home, we just shoved the suitcases in the corner and went to bed. The next day we went through the whole process of unpacking and putting stuff back in its proper place. Unfortuantely, summer vacation couldn't go on forever. Tomorrow, I had to go back to school.

It was the first day of school again. I really really didn't want to go so I pretended that I was sick, but Sasori didn't buy it for one minute. Dad kept asking me why I didn't want to go, but I was too embarrased to tell him. That walk to the school was the longest walk of my entire life. However when we got to the school, I learned that I would be going to a different room and have a different sensei. Maybe there would even be new students. Who knows, they might have just forgotten the last year altogether. I hoped that they had forgiven me by now.

I took a deep breath and walked into my new classroom. My heart sank as I looked around. All of the girls from last year were there, and there were no new students. I spotted Sakura and Ino in the corner glaring at me. My feeble hopes vanished as I nearly wilted under the intensity of their glares. I looked around and saw that everyone was glaring at me. Then someone pointed at me, "Hey, look its the girl with the freaky hands!" "I'm surprised her hands haven't chewed through her gloves." Another girl said. "Eeew, leather spit balls!" Everyone laughed at me. Our new sensei walked in right at that moment.

"What's going on?" She asked. "She's the girl with the weird hands," someone said. "Katsura-san?" sensei asked pointing to me. "Yes," I said on the verge of tears. "Sit in the front row where I can keep an eye on you," she told me sternly. I nodded completely cowed by this intimidating kunoichi. The rest of the day was a complete disaster. The class kept throwing things at me when sensei's back was turned. Then when I told her, she sent me to the corner for tattling. When it was time to go outside for our first taijutsu lesson, the entire school was there. All of the older girls made fun of me too. They kept shouting at the worst moments, trying to make me mess up my stances. None of the teachers did anything to stop them, but a few of them actually encouraged the girls who were teasing me.

It was even worse than last year. Not only was the entire school against me, but the teachers were too. They didn't punish any of the girls for teasing me or for throwing books and food at me during class. By the end of the school year, the other girls were even shooting spit balls at me while my sensei was watching, and she didn't do anything about it. However, if it was anyone but me that was getting teased or was getting things thrown at them, the teachers immediately stopped it. It wasn't fair, and I knew that it wasn't right. I hadn't done anything wrong.

Still, what could I do? I was just a kid. Tell my dad? Tell him what, that the other kids were being mean to me? There wasn't anything even he could do to make them be nice. They wouldn't change just because someone's dad told them to. Tears began trickling down my face as I thought these things, but I quickly wiped them away. I had learned that crying only made things worse. At this point, I was looking forward to training with Itachi this summer.

AN: Hey everyone! Sorry that it took so long to update, but it was a nightmare editing this chapter because its so huge. Anyways, I was trying to show how the Akatsuki treat her and develope the Akatsuki people a little bit, but I'm not so sure if I did a very good job...As usual, I hope that I did okay trying to portray a six/seven year old girl because its really really hard! Things just seem to be going from bad to worse with poor Fai-chan, and what boot camp from hell will Itachi put her through? Find out next chappie!


	3. Chapter 3

AN: (IMPORTANT INFO PLEASE READ) Some people are unsure about what the exact time period and place for this fanfiction are. Okay, its a modern day Naruto. Meaning the date is in the twentieth century as in our time period, most of the Naruto characters are in Japan, and they will all end up in the same school/place eventually. They will learn to use modern weapons, and ninja are world wide with their base located in Japan (I'll explain it in detail later). It has also been brought to my attention that a lot of the characters are OOC. I would like to say that other than Deidara, Sasori, Itachi, and Tobi I don't know a lot about the Akatsuki or their personalities so I kind of made their personalities up as I went along, and I intended to make Deidara OOC because he has a kid. Also just to make it clear for everyone Fai-chan is in an ALL girls school right now so Shino, Naruto, Neji, Sasuke, and all the boys ARE NOT THERE! While Hinata is in a private school. That means that Fai's the only girl there with a seriously disfiguring kekkei genkai. Also, Fai wore jeans at first because she wasn't doing any actual ninja training yet so it didn't matter whether or not she wore restrictive clothing. Finally, Fai-chan is now seven/eight, will be going into the second grade, and will be starting her ninja training with Itachi and Deidara. Okay, now that the lengthy explanations are done...a huge thank you to everyone who reviewed, I really appreciate it, and I'm sorry that it took so long to update.

Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO!!!!!! However, I am the proud owner of a cute little Fai-chan...

My second summer vacation is finally here, and today is my first day of training with dad and Itachi. Dad said that he'll be teaching me after I'm done with Itachi for the day. I really don't know what to feel right now. Just thinking about what Itachi will do to me is frightening, but at the same time I'm excited that I will finally be able to control my hands. Uncle Sasori decided to add his contributions to my first day of real ninja training by buying me ninja shorts, ninja sandals, and my first sets of kunai and shuriken. I still wasn't used to wearing the heavy weapons pouch around my waist, and the sandals were open toed so my feet were getting cold. Still if they were good enough for dad and Sasori, they were definitely good enough for me.

"Are you ready, Fai-chan?" Dad asked. I nodded in reply. "Alright, I'll be teleporting us there, un," He said as I climbed up on his back, and he walked into the drawn circle on the floor. "Wait!" Sasori called from the other room, making us both jump. He walked over and quickly made a few adjustments to the circle. Dad and I sweatdropped as Sasori slightly narrowed his eyes at dad. Then Sasori looked at me, "Do your best today, Fai." For Sasori, that was the equivalent of saying good luck. "Okay, Uncle Sasori," I replied. Dad poked my leg, and I looked down at him. "Here we go," he said as he made the handseals that teleported us out of the apartment.

Now, I have no idea where we are, but this must be the place because Itachi is standing in the middle of the area. We're inside some kind of building. There is a room on the left side where I can see treadmills and other exercise equipment through the glass window. On the right side I can see an open door with lots of weights inside. The room that we are in is a large area with every imaginable kind of martial arts weapons on the walls. I stopped looking around when dad lifted me off of his back and placed me on the ground. "I have a meeting now, un. Be good and do everything Itachi says," Dad said. He turned around and went through the door behind me.

Now, I'm really scared, and I desperately wished that dad would come back. I really didn't want to be alone with Itachi, especially when I was surrounded by weapons that he could use to hurt me. "Come here, Fai," Itachi ordered. Believe me, it was a command, not a request. I walked over to him as normally as I could. There was no way that I was going to let the jerk see that I was scared. He looked me up and down and began circling. He is making me feel very uncomfortable. "Hmm," He said appraising me, "Ninja uniform and equipment are in good condition. Physical condition, average for a little girl. Chakra levels also seem normal, and your kekkei genkai is none of my concern for the moment," he paused, his eyes narrowed, "The next time you come to train with me make sure that your hair has been cut short."

What was wrong with my hair? It is in its usual high ponytail. "Why?" I asked. Before I could even blink, my head was savagely jerked backwards, and I felt like my scalp was being ripped off. My eyes were watering, but I blinked back the tears. I wouldn't give Itachi the satisfaction of seeing me cry. "This is why," Itachi's cold voice said behind me, "Most shinobi are men, and its an instinct for men to grab a girl by her hair in a fight. The only way out of this situation is to cut your hair. That is if you live long enough to cut yourself free." He painfully pulled my ponytail again to let the message sink in before he finally let go. He walked back in front of me and continued talking just like nothing had happened.

"I'm assuming that you've already learned the primary katas that the academy teaches and the basics of throwing weapons. Did they tell you why we still use kunai and shuriken?" Itachi questioned. "To kill quickly and silently," I answered, "They're most effective on stealth missions when guns cause too much noise. They are also good to have in the off chance that you get in a hand to hand fight." Itachi nodded, "Those are the advantages, but what are the disadvantages?" I blinked. There was a downside? Itachi sighed as he explained, "Ninja must remain in the shadows to survive in the world today. If someone found bodies with kunai and shuriken, ninja weapons, sticking out of them it could be disasterous. Also, shuriken and kunai are notorious for showing the fingerprints of the ninja that threw them. Everytime a kunai or shuriken is thrown it must be retrieved."

Something told me that was going to be a pain in the future. Itachi looked sharply at me, "Now, you will demonstrate the katas you were taught, and your skill with throwing kunai and shuriken." Jeez, is it just me or does this guy like ordering me around? I nodded and was backhanded across my face so hard that I fell to the ground. My left cheek felt like it was on fire, and I had to quickly close my eyes to stop the tears. When I was sure I wasn't going to cry, I looked up to see Itachi towering over me. He looked like he was enjoying a delicious treat as he said coldly, "Discipline and respect for your superiors is essential for a shinobi. You will address me as either sensei or Itachi-sensei, got it?" "Y-yes, Itachi-sensei," I said.

Oh, great I stuttered. Yep, there's that smirk on his face that says 'you are inferior to me'. It was at that moment I discovered that I hate Uchiha Itachi. "Where were we...," Itachi continued, "Ah yes, demonstrate your taijutsu and weaponry now." I picked myself up and got into the stance the academy teachers had showed us. I moved through the three katas I had learned, trying as hard as I could to do them correctly. All the while, I was under Itachi's piercing gaze.

When I finally finished, I had to hold back a grin. I knew that I had done them perfectly. However, Itachi said, "You need more speed and strength. Normally, you would begin exercising with weights, but under the present circumstances I'll have Sasori put weight seals on you later. For now, you will practice those stances every morning when you get up, and every night before you fall asleep. I want you to know those stances inside and out and be able to do them in your sleep by the end of the week." I stared at him. By the end of the week?! He's crazy, there's no way that I'll be that good by then. Itachi continued, "If you fail to show improvement by then more drastic training methods will be taken."

Something about the way he said it told me that I really didn't want to find out what the drastic training methods were. Then he led me over to the targets (AN: think like archery targets). I opened my weapons pouch and took the kunai out. I took a moment to aim and threw ten kunai. It wasn't perfect, but most of them were within the yellow circle and I had only completely missed once. I could feel Itachi's glare burning holes through me from the sidelines, and I silently gulped. I knew that I had fallen short of his expectations.

I quickly drew my shuriken before Itachi could do anything to me. I was much better with the light shuriken than the large unwieldly kunai. I hoped that I could do good enough to redeem myself and avoid another conflict with Itachi. I took a deep breath to calm my nerves and threw the shuriken. They all hit the bullseye except for one which only missed the red by a fraction of an inch. I let out the small breath that I had been holding as Itachi walked over to stand next to me. "Your aim with the kunai knives is pathetic," He growled. I was shocked when he actually demonstrated the correct way to throw kunai and even adjusted my stance for me.

I could tell that he was seriously annoyed because he had to teach me something, but at the moment I was just happy he hadn't hit me again. When I threw the kunai a second time, they all hit the bullseye. Itachi made me throw the kunai and shuriken again ten more times. Fortunately, my kunai and shuriken all hit the mark. "Tomorrow, you will not miss a single target, or else," Itachi stated, then looked at his watch, "For today we are done." I was so happy to finally be getting away from Itachi that I didn't see the hand coming. Before I knew what had happened I had been slammed into the wall.

I slowly sank half conscious to the ground. Once again, I looked up to see Itachi towering over me. The sharingan stared back at me. Oh jeez, he was mad. No scratch that, mad didn't even begin to cover it. "What did I tell you about kunai and shuriken," Itachi hissed. My mind was so fuzzy it was hard to concentrate, and then I remembered. "Always retrieve them?" I managed to gasp out. Itachi jerked his head back towards the targets where all of my kunai and shuriken were sticking out of them. I slowly got up and nearly fainted from the sudden bout of dizziness that came over me. Itachi glared at me with impatience. The jerk didn't even care that he had nearly knocked me out!

I stumbled over to the targets, removed every kunai and shuriken, and placed them back into my weapons pouch. I had just put the last one away when my dad burst through the door and ran over to me. He swept me up in a bear hug that nearly broke my back. "Fai-chan, you're alive, un!" Then he saw my face, and in an instant his expression went from happy to murderous. I have never seen my dad like this before. It was like I was looking at a completely different person. Dad gave Itachi a very impressive death glare, "Itachi, why is the left side of my daughter's face bruised, un?"

Oh, boy. I didn't want to be in the middle of this one. Itachi didn't even seem to be bothered in the least that dad was glaring at him for all he was worth. Itachi shrugged, "She needed to learn to mind her sensei, right Fai?" Dad and Itachi were both looking at me now. "Yes, Itachi-sensei," I said quietly. Seriously, I would not put it passed Itachi to torture me for not giving the response he wanted. Dad tried to catch my eye, but I refused to look at him.

"If you have a problem with my training methods," Itachi continued mockingly, "Then take it up with Leader-sama." I could almost hear dad's teeth grinding together as he and Itachi stared each other down. You could literally feel the battle of wills going on. "If you ever seriously hurt my daughter, I'll kill you," Dad growled, dead serious. Then he turned and started carrying me away. Before we went out the door, I looked back at Itachi and saw that he was silently chuckling. Oh how I hate that man.

Half an hour later, I started training with dad in the living room at home. He began the lesson by going on and on and on about how our kekkei genkai was an expression of art. I honestly didn't understand a word of it. However he did explain that we could mold and control clay and turn it into explosives, which is pretty cool. "Oh, and Fai-chan," Dad said excitedly, "I found out about your hands, un. It took Sasori-danna and I a lot of time to track the Katsura clan scroll down. It was with some second cousin twice removed or other, but we found it, un. Apparently, every now and then a clan member will have over active hands. All that you have to do to calm them down is store some clay in them, un."

Finally, no more stupid mouths muching and making wierd noises all day! I was so happy I tackled dad to the floor in a big hug. "Yes, I know that you're excited, Fai-chan, but this is still going to be a lot of work, un. You see, the hyperactivity of your hands makes them stronger. You will have a harder time molding explosiveless clay, and your explosives will naturally be more powerful than normal, un. For now though, we will just concentrate on controling the hands themselves, un. I'll start teaching you how to mold clay and explosives when you begin learning about chakra and jutsu."

For the rest of the day, I trained my hands under dad's overly protective gaze. When we were done training, Uncle Sasori made dinner for the first time. Well, the dinner turned out to be a little awkward because it turns out that Sasori can't cook, and dad and I couldn't bring ourselves to tell him that so we choked the food down. After dinner Sasori led me to his and dad's room.

Their combined room was a bit cramped because they had somehow fit two beds, two desks, and a bookshelf in there. Don't ask me how they did it, I don't know myself. The floor was littered with puppet parts and clay splatters. I was very careful not to step on the puppet parts. I knew that many of them were sharp and covered with poison. I carefully made my way over to stand next to Sasori by his work desk. On it, he had laid out a scroll that was covered with intricate seals. "I received a message from Itachi this afternoon. It seems that he wants you to have weight seals. I know that Itachi didn't explain what they are so I will. They are seals that act just like a set of weights, but they are drawn on your skin and are adjusted with chakra."

"Why do I need weight seals?" I asked. Sasori explained, "Well, Itachi may not have wanted to train you in the first place, but this is a matter of pride for him. He is viewed as a prodigy, a ninja genius. If his student does poorly, it will reflect badly on him. Such a failure is unacceptable to him so he will do whatever it takes to get the results that he wants. Not only that, but I expect that the time limit is unnerving him."

"Time limit? So he won't be training me for a long time?" I asked hopefully. If it had been physically possible for a puppet to raise an eyebrow, Uncle Sasori would definitely have one raised right now. "He didn't tell you?" Sasori asked. I shook my head. Sasori sighed as he cleared off some space at the foot of his bed and motioned for me to sit down.

"Shinobi are different then normal people and have powers that most humans can only dream of. We would be feared, hunted, and erradicated if the public knew that we existed, and what we are capable of. Ninja can only exist by living in the shadows, using covert operations. We live on the edge of a knife, and one wrong move by one person could expose the entire ninja underground. Because of this only the best of the best can become ninja. The ninja academy is not only for training possible ninja, but it is also a process in which those who will not become shinobi are weeded out. Only the top five percent in each of the elementary academies will advance to the junior high schools, and the top five percent from the junior highs will go to the only high school where the top ten percent or less will actually graduate"

"Now," Uncle Sasori continued, "I need start drawing these seals on so hold still." The process took less than an hour, and I think that the designs look cool. However, Sasori added one pound of weight to the seals so now my body feels like its made of lead. With the seals done, I sort of half stomped, half shuffled back towards the door, and I was still trying not to step on the random puppet parts that were between me and my destination. Uncle Sasori noticed that I was having difficulty so he started picking the puppet parts up to keep me from stepping on a knife. I looked over at him and stared in awe at one of the blades sticking out of a puppet's elbow joint.

It was a beautiful metallic purple color, and the way that it caught the light was gorgeous. Uncle Sasori noticed my look of awe, "It's beautiful, but don't touch it. It won't kill you. I wouldn't leave the deadly ones where someone could step on them, but it will temporarily paralyze you from the neck down. One of my more ingenious poisons," he paused and looked like he was pondering something, "Would you like to learn about poisons and antidotes with me? If you don't want to I'll understand." Wow, Uncle Sasori NEVER offers to teach anyone anything, and it had been a really long time since we did anything together.

"Okay, what do I need to learn first?" I asked excitedly. Then the most shocking event of the day happened. Sasori, yes Akasuna no Sasori the living puppet, smiled. I'm not talking about a smirk here, he actually smiled as he grabbed two books off of the shelf and handed them to me. "Those are the most basic books that I have on poisons and antidotes. Read the first chapters tonight, and we will begin discussing them tomorrow after your training," Sasori said, actually sounding happy. "Okay," I replied. I was just about to leave the room when I remembered something.

"Um, Uncle Sasori?" I asked. "Hm?" He said half turning to me. "Itachi-sensei said that I had to cut my hair short by the next training session." I said hesitantly. Sasori cuts my hair because its cheap, and dad said something about his puppets had to do with it. Anyways, I needed my hair cut by tomorrow because I don't want to know what Itachi will do to me if its not cut. Sasori threw his puppet parts under his bed, and after fifteen minutes in the bathroom my hair was just a bit shorter than my shoulders. (AN: Its about the same length as Sakura's after she cut it during the Chunnin exams)

"Thank you, Uncle Sasori," I said. He really did make it look nice for me. I turned to leave when he asked, "What happened to the left side of your face, Fai?" I turned to look at him and saw my reflection in the mirror. Even though it had been several hours since Itachi had backhanded me, almost the entire left side of my face was a yellow-brown bruise. "Itachi-sensei happened," I said bitterly. I saw Sasori's eyes narrow slightly before he turned and began cleaning up, a sign that I was dismissed. I grabbed my books and shuffled back to my room.

I was starting to sweat by the time I got to my room and laid the books on my bed. Having weights on was way harder then I had thought it would be. It made me so tired, but I had to practice my stances, or I wouldn't be ready at the end of the week. So I began practicing my taijutsu forms. The extra weight on my limbs made the movements slow and awkward. I was struggling just to stay in the correct position. Still, becoming a kunoichi is my dream, and to even have a chance at achieving my dream, I have to put up with Itachi-sensei and his insane training.

I managed to dredge up enough strength to go through the stances twice before I reached my limit. I lay back on the bed panting. I had never been this exhausted in my entire life. I weakly turned my head so I could read the alarm clock. It's nine o'clock at night, and I still have to read the books that Uncle Sasori gave me. I laboriously rolled onto my belly and opened the first book on poisons. After a few minutes of reading, I became so fascinated that I almost forgot my exhaustion. Yes, I couldn't understand a lot of it, but I never realized that there were so many different types of poisons and nearly as many antidotes. I was so engrossed in the books that I was almost sad when I finished the reading assignment, but everything that I had been through today was catching up with me. I put the books on the floor, and as soon as my head touched the pillow I was out like a light.

The next morning I got up and did my taijutsu stances before I could forget. The weights on my arms and legs still made me feel like I was made of heavy rocks. Still, I somehow managed to get through my katas twice before dad came up to see what was taking me so long. After a brief explanation, he reset my alarm to give me more time to practice in the mornings. Great, now I just lost another hour of sleep. I shuffled around getting ready for a new day. I'm really hoping that I'll be able to walk normally soon because I hate barely being able to move.

It got even worse when I went to my daily lessons with Itachi-sensei. He made me practice my taijutsu katas TEN times. That's right TEN TIMES! By the time I got through them, it felt like my limbs had been lit on fire then ground into dust. Now he expects me to throw shuriken and kunai at the targets. I'm so dead. I can barely lift my arms let alone throw ten shuriken and kunai! By some miracle, I managed to throw the weapons perfectly. Then I retrieved them as quickly as my aching limbs would let me. So far so good. Itachi hasn't attacked me yet, and I did everything he wanted me to do. Its all good, right? Wrong.

"Now, kunoichi like you are naturally more flexible and agile then men. To use this to your advantage, you will run over the obstacle course in the next room," Itachi said as he led me through the closed north door, picking up a hard wood stick on the way. Please, please tell me he's not that evil. Oh jeez, he IS that evil. Everytime I made the slightest mistake I received a whack from the stick in Itachi's hand. I knew that each hit would leave a mark. The course itself would have been a breeze if my weights hadn't been on, but unfortunately, I had to go through the course four times weights and all.

My movements were stiff and awkward because of the extra weight, and I was exhausted from training earlier, which made me a prime target for Itachi. I left myself open, I almost lost my balance, I didn't move fast enough, the list of the things I could get beaten for increased as we continued. I finally collapsed after an hour of this torture, and Itachi called a halt, "That's enough. It's pointless to continue for today. Now get up and get out." He turned his back on me.

I remained where I had collapsed, panting and sweating without the strength to even twitch. After what seemed like hours, the door opened, and I heard someone walking over to me. I rotated my eyes upwards and saw Uncle Sasori standing over me. He knelt down and picked me up bridal style. "You're taking this too far, Uchiha," Uncle Sasori warned. I barely managed to move my head so I could see Itachi's reaction. He whipped around to receive a venomous look from Sasori. "She'll live," He stated.

Uncle Sasori gave Itachi a death glare, "If you harm Fai, and Deidara doesn't kill you, I will." Itachi had enough sense of self preservation to take Sasori seriously. With that said, Sasori carried me out of the room and teleported home. When we got there, I spent the time I would have used training with dad passed out on the couch. I woke up around dinner time, and after scarfing down my food I had enough energy to discuss what I had read about poisons with Uncle Sasori. He was very patient when he explained the parts that I didn't understand, and he told me to read the next chapters for tomorrow. Once again, I somehow forced myself to review my taijutsu and read the two chapters before I collapsed into a dreamless sleep.

Four months later, I'm still training with dad and learning poisons with Sasori. I've gotten a lot better, and my hands are now completely under control. I've also graduated to learning about specific poisons, their composition, uses, etc, and the antidotes, their uses, etc. Itachi gets more evil by the month. I now have six pound weights, but my body is finally adjusting to it. Since the first month of school has started Itachi can only train me four times a week instead of everyday. I swear that Itachi is evil incarnate. Here's what happened. Itachi purposefully trained me ahead of the program in the academy to make it look like I'm gifted with picking up the taijutsu and weaponry techniques. Now the girls not only hate me for being a freak, but they're jealous too. You don't think that Itachi planned it that way? There's more, unfortunately.

On the second day of school, Itachi brought his younger brother, Sasuke, during recess to introduce me specifically. He made a big deal of making sure that he talked to me and got to know me. Sasuke, the guy that every other girl in the school is hopelessly obsessed with. I was getting the evil eye from the entire play ground and even from some of the teachers who were Itachi fangirls, eew. No one can convince me that he didn't plan that. Grr, I hate Itachi. However, Sasuke seemed like an okay guy, but he looks way too much like Itachi for me to consider him handsome. So no thanks to Itachi I am once again the shunned and hated outcast.

AN: Hi everyone! I'm sorry that it took so long to post, but college is a pain...Homework, ugh. I also understand that there's a lot of info and less plot in this chapter. Sorry about that, but it's stuff that will be relevant later on in the story. Well, I hope that you enjoyed it!


	4. Chapter 4

AN: Hey everyone! It's chapter four already, yay! Thank you so much for the reviews! Just as a reminder to everyone, Fai-chan is now eight/nine years old and will be going into the third grade. Now for the fanfiction! Itachi do the disclaimer.

Itachi: Foolish little brother, oops wrong quote. Um, you didn't hear that. Ahem, Chibi PO'd Hiei does not own Naruto.

It is four thirty in the morning. I'm up so early because I wanted to talk to mom before I started going back to school today. I know that I'm only talking to her picture, but I feel like she can really hear me when I talk to her. I've told her all about Itachi's training methods, and how they've only gotten harsher with time. I'm sure that she's watching my training practices with him, and I'm asking her not to worry about me. I'm begging her not to cry for me from heaven. Itachi's training will make me strong enough to achieve my dream, and for that I'm willing to put up with the teme. I happily told her how proud Uncle Sasori is to have me learning poisons with him. He says that I'm a fast learner, and that I'll go far in the field. I had also advanced to actually molding clay with Dad, and I know that must make mom really happy. Right now I'm asking her to watch over me, and if she could send someone to be my friend this year I would appreciate it.

I heard Dad and Sasori getting up. I told mom that I'd talk to her later before I tip-toed back to my room and started the new daily exercise routine that Itachi had given me. After half an hour of exercising, I got dressed for school and rushed into the kitchen to scarf down the waffles that Dad had made. "Woah, slow down Fai-chan. You don't want to choke on your waffles, un," Dad said. "I can't help it," I said, "Your waffles just taste too good, dad." "You'd better start walking, or you'll be late to school, Fai," Uncle Sasori said from behind his newspaper.

"Yeah," I said trying not to sound depressed, "I'll be going then. See ya later, love you." I grabbed my back pack and rushed out the door. At least I didn't have to explain why going to school bothered me so much. Dad would have asked if he'd been walking with me, but by the time I get home he'll have forgotten about it. Dad's the stereotypical absent minded artist. He gets so involved in his work that he forgets stuff, and Sasori believes that what I tell him is my decision. Anyways, Uncle Sasori finally convinced Dad that I was old enough to walk to school on my own, and Dad said to kick the butts of anyone who bothered me on the way. Yeah right, like that'll ever happen.

I slowed down as I approached the school. Another year of hell on earth. Please, please let them be over it. Please, don't let me be alone again. I don't know how much more of this I can take. I entered the school yard and hesitantly waved at a few of the girls who were talking in their little clicks. They glared and walked away. I sighed. I am still the freaky outcast. I walked into my classroom and sat in the desk that's in the back left corner. I didn't have to wait long for the rest of the girls to come in and take their seats. There were no new students like always. This was going to be a long school year. The teacher entered the room, and she just happened to be one of the biggest Fai-haters on campus. Could this day get any worse?

Scratch that question. I already know the answer. The teacher started the day with the usual math and science combination. Then she followed it up with english, history, and ninja history. I paid rapt attention and took the most detailed notes that I could. Uncle Sasori stressed that having good grades on the written tests was just as essential to getting into the shinobi junior high as taijutsu and ninjutsu were. I sensed an object coming and waited until the last possible moment before moving my head to the side. I watched the spit ball plaster itself onto the wall right where my cheek would have been. I suppressed a grin when I saw the look of shock and disappointment on the girl's face.

Itachi had found out that the girls at school were throwing things at me during class. I swear he must be reading my diary or something because it's scary how he knows these things. Well, I can't complain too much since he dedicated this last summers' training sessions to teaching me how to dodge objects from all directions in the most efficient way. Of course, he also continued with the basic training program we'd already established because he's evil like that. He had said that we would progress to objects of different size and shape later on, but for now his basic dodging training was coming in handy. I was effortlessly taking notes and dodging the flying objects. Itachi is evil incarnate with severe teaching methods, but I have to admit that his training is effective.

I paused and let a paper ball hit me on the shoulder as the teacher glanced at me. I looked down stupidly at the paper wad as some random girl was quietly bragging about how she hit me. The teacher turned back to the black board and continued the lesson as I resumed dodging the random objects the other girls threw when they thought that I wasn't paying attention. I knew that if the teacher saw me dodging random projectiles while she was lecturing she would punish me for disrupting the class. Jeez, these teachers need to get a life, and those stupid girls really need to get tutors or something. Their aim is pathetic enough even without me dodging while remaining seated and taking notes simultaneously.

I stopped and let the two apples hit me in the head as the teacher whipped around to glare at me again. I rubbed my head and looked around like I didn't know who'd thrown the apples. The teacher's eye twitched. Oh, she was looking for any excuse to humiliate me, and I'll bet that she's absolutely irate that she's got nothing on me. I just looked at her and silently blinked like I had just noticed that she was looking at me. Once again she turned around and continued lecturing. I resisted the urge to make a face at her back. This class was well known for tattling on me, and I wasn't about to give the teacher the satisfaction of punishing me on the first day of school.

Finally, the teacher told us to grab our weapons and head out to the training grounds. Ah, taijutsu class. I love the glares of jealousy in the afternoon. I had quickly learned that it's one thing to be glared at for doing nothing, and another to be glared at for being the best. I wasn't smug or anything. I just practised more than this bunch of shopping obsessed pansies. The only other girl who is any good at taijutsu and weaponry is that TenTen girl. Hm, I don't see her today. She views me as a worthy rival, rather than the school freak. She doesn't talk to me or anything, but at least she doesn't glare at me or talk about me when she thinks that I'm not listening. Oh, there she is helping some of the younger students who are obviously lost causes.

I pulled my gaze away as the teacher called me up to demonstrate my weapon and taijutsu skills. Thanks to my intense over the summer training with Itachi, I did everything perfectly, and even though I was weighed down by my seals I did the stances and threw the weapons faster than any of the other girls in my class. When I think about it, I wonder what they've been doing this whole time. Even if they didn't have the sensei from hell, they should still be showing some kind of improvement. I don't understand how they can come in on the first day of the year and do worse on the taijutsu demonstration then they did on the last day before summer vacation. Didn't these girls practice during the summer?

I could almost hear growls coming from the teachers as their least favorite student surpassed all of the other girls in the demonstrations. I grinned and waved at them. I knew it would make them angrier, but I wanted to get back at them even if it was in a small way. The sweetest part about this little pay back is that they can't punish me for it. It's not my fault that I'm way ahead of this curriculum. I wonder when they'll start teaching us actual jutsu. If they start teaching it early on, they'll make it twice as hard on me as everyone else, but if they leave it until the end of the year I'll be working on it from the ground up with Itachi. If I had to chose between the two, it would honestly be these teachers hands down.

Unfortunately, they gave us the jutsu syllabus, and they wouldn't even be teaching the ninjutsu background and termonology until the end of the year. I smell a conspiracy. They so planned this with Itachi. I wouldn't put it past any of them. After taijutsu practice, we were dismissed for the day. I ran back inside and grabbed my back pack, but I quickly dropped it as a huge spider crawled onto my hand. I inwardly seethed as I said loudly so the girls waiting outside could hear me, "Nice try, but I'm not afraid of spiders." I walked out of the building and gently placed the spider in a dark corner and re-entered the classroom. Then I checked my back pack for any more surprises.

Finding nothing else in my pack, I put it on and raced home. As soon as I got there, I did my homework and went to practice using my kekkei genkai with dad. After that I studied more about poisons and antidotes with Uncle Sasori. Finally, I practiced my taijutsu before reading the books Sasori gave me and falling asleep. Tomorrow I would stop by a training area for another training lesson with Itachi-sensei.

The rest of the school year basically went the same way. The teachers kept trying to catch me doing anything that they could punish and humiliate me for. Sometimes they caught me doing something that they could exaggerate into an excuse for punishment, but I got through most of the days without an evil teacher incident. I continued to show up the other girls in my class, both in my studies and taijutsu. I mean, these girls seriously need to practice their stances and weaponry sometime. I don't know. Maybe they are, but to me it looks like they're standing still.

After another school year of pure torture, it was finally the last day of school again. The last day is really just a day to hand out the report cards because everything else has already been done. This is a waste of my time. I could have just stayed home with Dad and Sasori today, but no I just had to come in to get a slip of paper that says how well I did this year. I wouldn't be surprised if the teachers sabatoged my grades. They certainly hate me enough to do it. Oh, great. Now the girls are gossiping about what a freak I am, again. They just keep on talking like I can't hear every word that they're saying, and hey!

I looked at the girls and said indignantly, "My hands do NOT eat poop!" "Yeah, they do poop eater!" One girl retorted. "Why are you even talking to us?" Her friend added haughtily. "Yeah, go mind your own buisness, freak!" The first girl added. I gave them an icy look, "It is my buisness when you talk about me. I've heard everything that you and everyone else has said about me this whole year, and I'm sick of it! Why don't you mind YOUR buisness and-" I was cut off by the teacher's triumphant voice. I'll bet she has waited the entire year for this moment.

"Katsura-san," She said reminding me very strongly of a certain evil sensei that I just love to hate, "Come to the front of the class." Why, oh why, do ninja schools have to allow corporal punishment. She decided on the tried and true slap on the hands with a ruler method. Needless to say that with my particular hand condition, it hurts like heck! I could see the disappointment in her eyes as she whacked my hands three times, and I showed no sign of tears. Most girls would have been bawling their eyes out by then, but I'm not most girls. I refuse to give any of them the satisfaction of seeing me cry.

Then she ordered, "Now, into the corner for disrupting the class." I sighed as I walked up to the chair that stood in the corner in front of the class as the other girls laughed at me and called me a freak and a loser. Grr, someday I'll show them all. When the rest of the indoor classes were over, everyone moved outside for a final, unscored taijutsu and weaponry demonstration. Everyone except me. I was forced to stay inside and write 'I will not disturb the class' as many times as I could until school was out. As soon as the last bell of the year rang, I swiped my report card out of the pile, snatched my back pack, and ran home as fast as I could.

Once I got home, I gave Dad my report card. "Sasori-danna," He called, "Fai-chan's home, and she brought her report card, un!" I threw my back pack into the closet where it would remain until school started again. I heard Uncle Sasori shuffling out of the bathroom as he came to join Dad and I in the living room. We all settled ourselves onto the couch as Dad opened the report and silently read it before passing it on non-chalantly to Uncle Sasori. I was at the edge of my seat waiting for some kind of a reaction. I had worked my butt off this year, and I wanted to know if my hard work had paid off.

The shinobi academy report cards are just like normal school report cards, except at the bottom of the letters the scores of the entire class are confidentially charted with the first column belonging to the top of the class, the second belonging to the runner up, and so forth with the student's column outlined in bold. My kindergarten year, I had placed somewhere in the middle of the class because my weaponry and written scores had weighed me down. In first and second grade, I had been number one in the class, but only by a small margine because some other girls had insanely high written test scores and fairly good taijutsu scores. Dad and Sasori had been very pleased by this, but Itachi and Leader-sama were far from satisfied.

Now I couldn't tell if I had done well or not because Dad and Sasori had gone as silent as the grave on me. "Well, how'd I do?" I asked. I felt like I was about to die from the suspense. Uncle Sasori gave a low whistle in response, and I did an anime fall off the couch. Dad just looked down at me, "Tell you what, Fai-chan. We'll take a break from training today, un." I get the day off? Is it because I did really good, or is this one of those take a break today because tomorrow Itachi's going to murder you days? Argh, the suspense, the suspense!

Finally, Dad and Uncle Sasori couldn't take it anymore as they saw the expression on my face. They burst out laughing as I got up off the floor. "Don't worry, Fai," Uncle Sasori said reassuringly, "You did excellently. I'm willing to bet that even Leader-sama will be satisfied this time." I let out a breath that I didn't even know I'd been holding. "What are you talking about, un? She didn't just do excellently, she blew all of the other students out of the water!" Dad was saying excitedly as he made wild hand gestures. "That she did," Uncle Sasori agreed. "Let me see! Let me see!" I said excitedly.

I must've done well to have impressed Sasori. Dad handed me the report card, and he was right. I really had blown all of the other girls out of the water. My written test scores for my in class subjects were all A's. I hadn't gotten the highest written scores across the board because another girl had tied with me for perfect hundreds. My taijutsu and weaponry scores were perfect, while the second highest scores in both areas were average at best. I had secured the top position in my class with a perfect 4.0.

I grinned and laughed with relief when I saw my scores. The first thought that streaked across my brain was 'Hah! In your faces evil teachers!' This was just too awesome! "We're going to have to celebrate, un!" Dad said. "We are going to celebrate, remember?" Sasori stated, "We're going to that Chinese buffet to show her scores to Itachi and Kisame before we inform Leader-sama." "Oh, yeah," Dad said. My joy was briefly put on pause. I was going to have to face Itachi at dinner. I think I just lost my appetite. However, my excitement and appetite came back the instant they mentioned that Uncle Kisame was going to be there. I haven't seen him since forever.

We left the apartment at dinner time and squeezed into a cab that drove us to the Chinese buffet. Mmm, Chinese food...We entered the extravagantly decorated restaraunt, and the delicious aroma of perfectly cooked Chinese buffet floated over to me. Oh, crap. I just saw Itachi glaring at us as usual. Why did he have to be here? Oh, yeah. He's my sensei, and Leader-sama pointed out that my sensei had a right to know my scores before hand as well. Stupid technical grown up stuff! I pushed those thoughts out of my head as I saw Uncle Kisame with his genjutsu disguise on jumping up and down, waving and grinning from ear to ear. He looked so funny that I started giggling when I saw him.

We headed over to the table they were sitting at and grabbed the extra plates that had been set out for us. As we headed for the food, Uncle Kisame said, "Hey, Fai-chan. Long time no see. How about a hug for your long lost uncle?" I ignored the fact that we were both carrying plates as I gave Kisame a big hug, accidentally whacking him in the back with the plate. Oops. Well Kisame didn't mind because he laughed it off. When we got to the food line, he made sure that I got plenty of vegetables along with the other foods. He can be like a second dad at times. We all retreated to the table with plates piled high with various combinations of food.

As we dug into the feast, Dad handed my report card to Itachi who read it smugly before carelessly tossing it to an overly eager Kisame. I quietly released another held breath before resuming my meal. If Itachi was looking smug again, it meant that I wasn't going to be in hot water during tomorrow's training session. "Uh," Kisame said in confusion, "What does this charty thingy mean?" Everyone sweatdropped. Okay, I knew that Kisame wasn't the brightest guy in the world, but the chart is pretty much self explanatory.

Itachi took it upon himself to show Kisame which column showed my scores and explained that the others showed the scores of the other girls. "Oh," Kisame said, "I don't get it." I dropped the fork I had been holding, and Uncle Sasori had to quickly snatch Dad's plate out of the way so Dad's head hit the table instead of a pile of food. Itachi just gave Kisame a look that clearly said 'and you got to be my team mate how?' As Dad slowly raised his head again Itachi said in a very annoyed tone, "I'll put this into terms that even an idiot can understand. She finished with a perfect score in every subject and is easily the best in her class."

I could see the dawning light of comprehension brightening Kisame's face as he grinned. "Way to go, kiddo!" He congratulated as we high fived over the table. Sasori figured that it was safe to put Dad's plate back down, and they continued eating. Itachi grunted non-commitally, but he still couldn't hide the smugness on his face. I didn't read too much into it because I had just finished my dinner and was heading for the dessert when Kisame came up next to me at the dessert buffet. "Hey, you know the chinese version of monju is to your left," He said. I whipped my head to the left and saw a light shining down onto a pile of the Chinese version of monju. I quickly piled my plate high with the variation of my favorite dessert. I love this buffet!

"You know," Uncle Kisame continued casting a conspiratory glance around, "Itachi's very pleased with your performance. Leader-sama was getting very impatient with Itachi for not producing any significant results. Itachi and I had to repeatedly tell him that you were still too young to clearly stand out, and that you'd get better as you got older. Your scores this year will really salvaged his pride. You even scored higher than his younger brother, which I know he's going to brag about to his clan." I paused in mid reach for another piece of dessert. Curse him! He's helping me achieve my dream, but in return I'm feeding his ego!

Wait a second, did he just say..."I did better than Sasuke?!" I yelped in surprise. "Shhh," Uncle Kisame shushed me, "Keep your voice down! Itachi would fillet me if he knew I was telling you this stuff! But yeah, Sasuke did worse on his written tests and his weaponry scores, and he's the top of his class." "Sorry," I said quietly, "Does Itachi-sensei really brag about me to his clan?" This was the first that I had ever heard about Itachi telling other people about me. Did I actually impress him, or was this just to satisfy his pride? "Well," Kisame said nervously glancing at Itachi, "He told the clan that he was privately teaching a student on the side. It's a good excuse for buisness stuff that the clan doesn't need to know about, and he brags that you've been the top of your year since he started teaching you."

Just as I suspected, Itachi only told people about me because it benefited him. I can just see him telling his father about how his student is out performing his own younger brother, the second Uchiha prodigy, thanks to Itachi's training. Argh, I can't believe this guy! Well, he does deserve some credit for teaching me, but I got those grades by working my butt off and he takes ALL the credit! I really want to wipe that smug smirk off his face, but I can't. "You okay?" Kisame asked sounding concerned. I put a final dessert on my plate and smiled at him, "Yep."

We walked back to the table, and I put my frustrations aside as I took a bite out of a dessert that tasted like it fell from heaven onto my plate. After dessert, Sasori paid for the food, and I hugged Kisame good bye before we parted ways. Once we were back at the apartment, I reviewed my knowledge of poisons and antidotes with Sasori, practiced my exercises, and went to bed. I'll have a long day of training tomorrow, and I need all the rest I can get.

AN: I hope that this chapter doesn't sound repetitive of other chapters, but I wanted to show that Fai-chan is improving faster than the other girls. This was the best idea that I came up with. I hope that you liked it.


	5. Chapter 5

AN: Hi everyone! Well, I've been trying to think of what to do with this chapter for a while, and I hit myself on the head when Hakuro reviewed and said that I haven't done a training session with Deidara yet. Thank you, Hakuro! Also, Fai-chan is now nine/ten and is in the fourth grade. Now before we begin, Deidara do the disclaimer.

Deidara: Chibi PO'd Hiei doesn't own Naruto or any of its affiliations, un!

I fidgeted at my desk, staring at the clock on the wall. Only two minutes left until I can leave this nightmare and go home. I dodged a text book and acted like I was paying attention when the teacher turned to give me a dirty look. She returned to writing on the blackboard, and I anxiously stared at the clock again. Five seconds, four, three, two, one...Ring! I snapped my book shut and threw my things into my back pack as I jumped out of my seat and raced out the door. I had to restrain myself from using shinobi speed as I charged through the streets and cut through back alleys.

After what seemed like an eternity of running, I finally entered my home. I flung my back pack onto the couch and started searching for Dad. I checked a random noise coming from the bedroom first, but it was only Uncle Sasori working on his puppets. "He's doing the laundry," Sasori grunted before I closed the door. I streaked over to the laundry room and helped Dad load the washing machine so he'd get done faster. He chuckled as he said, "Well, someone's excited, un. Just let me get my shoes on, and we'll head out." Up until now, Dad has only showed me how to mold and manipulate the clay, but today will be the day that he finally teaches me how to make the clay explode! I'm so excited I can't stand still as I impatiently wait for Dad to pull his sandals on.

"Sasori-danna," He called from the living room, "Remember to switch the laundry load for me, un!" I gave Dad a skeptical look as I asked, "Do you think he heard you?" Dad took a moment to think before shrugging his shoulders, "I guess I'll find out when we get back, un." Dad held my hand as we walked out of the apartment, rather than using the teleportation jutsu. Wait, we're walking?! "Um, dad," I said. He turned to look at me, "Yes, Fai-chan." "Why are we walking?" "Well, we're going to a demolition area to practice. It has so much security on it that it's impossible to teleport there, un." Okay, that made sense. Then I noticed that Dad was still holding my hand.

Good grief. Does he think that I'm a baby or something? I sighed silently. I can't say that to him. The next thing I knew he was asking worriedly, "I something wrong, Fai-chan? You seem unhappy, un," He rapidly continued before I could reply, "Do you have too much homework? Did you use too much chakra? Is Itachi bothering you again, un?!" Leave it to Dad to freak out over me being even a tiny bit unhappy, but he only does it because he loves me. "I'm fine. Don't worry, Dad. I just want to get there sometime today." "Oh," He said coming out of panic mode, "we're almost there, un."

We had walked down by some old abandoned buildings. Dad led me into one of the more rickety ones, and he brought me into an old elevator that is still working somehow. He punched several of the numbers in. Then an electronic voice said, "Voice identification and password required." Dad grinned as he replied, "Katsura Deidara and guest, un. Password, art is a bang!" "Voice and password accepted. Thank you for choosing Ninja Corps. Transportation Services. Keep one hand on the railing at all times. All guests must register at the security office upon reaching the specified destination. In case of an emergency, using ninjutsu to escape is legal. If you can not use ninjutsu, press the red button. Do not press the red button unless it is an emergency. Have a nice day."

Dad and I sent chakra to our feet, rather than hold the side rail to keep us in place. Suddenly, the elevator plummeted. I could feel my stomach leaping up into my throat, and Dad started grinning like a suicidal maniac. "Hold on, Fai-chan," He said, "There's a left turn coming, and then its a straight sideways course from there, un." Dad had just finished the sentence when the elevator suddenly stopped freefalling and shot sideways to the left. The sudden change of direction broke my concentration on the chakra in my feet. I flew to the right, but Dad caught me with his ninja reflexes before I could slam into anything.

"Are you okay, un?!" Dad asked in a concerned panic, "You didn't hit anything, right? Did I grab you too hard, un?!" "I feel like I need to throw up, but other than that I'm okay," I said trying to calm Dad down a bit. He breathed a sigh of relief as he said, "Yeah, the first dozen trips or so will do that, un." First, DOZEN?! Oh, yeah. This blast zone we're going to is one of the few in the country. That means we're going to have to ride this crazy death trap again. I'm not looking forward to it. "Fai-chan," Dad said cutting into my thoughts, "Here, un." He handed me a brown paper bag. He must've had it in his pocket or something. "Thanks," I said gratefully before I put it to good use. Dad gently rubbed my back to help ease the puking spasms. Ugh, I hate high speed elevators.

At last the elevator came to a gut wrenching halt, and the doors smoothly slid open as the mechanical voice said, "Detonation area." Dad confidently walked out of the elevator and set me down. My knees shook slightly as the world spun around me. "Fai-chan, do you need to lie down?" Great. Now Dad is worrying again. "No, I'm just a little dizzy," I replied. It took a full minute for the room to stop spinning, but I feel okay now. I tossed the used paper bag into the trash can and followed Dad over to the security desk. The guard is a middle aged man wearing a Chuunin vest.

"Hideki-san," Dad said all buisness. "Deidara-san, I've kept area twelve open for ya," Hideki acknowledged timidly. "Thank you, but this is my daughter's first time here, un. She needs to be registered," Dad said. "Your...daughter?" Hideki asked shakily before he saw me, "Heaven save us. There's TWO of them!" He muttered in a semi panic. Dad narrowed his eyes as he said tightly, "What was that, un?" "Uh, nothing, nothing, he-he," Hideki chuckled nervously as he produced some paper work for Dad to fill out. Then Hideki handed me a microphone, "Just say your name and password. Make sure that it's something you can remember, or you'll be locked out." "Katsura, Fai. Password...Flap jacks," I said. Yep, there's no way that I can forget Dad's famous flap jacks.

I heard a thud and looked down to see that Dad had done an anime fall. I handed the microphone back as Dad got up. "Alright, head down to area 12," Hideki said. Dad grabbed my hand and we set off down the hall way. We took a few twists and turns before we went through a large double door and into the range beyond. We hopped into a golf cart, and Dad started driving us to Area 12. The Area 12 bomb shelter had just come into view when the guard's voice blaired out of the range speakers, "There are two Katsura's on the range. There are TWO KATSURA'S on the range! This is not a drill!" Almost immediately, there were golf carts of people evacuating the entire bomb range. Okay...

I glanced over at Dad, and he was seething. He was muttering random threats about what he would do to Hideki when we got to the bomb shelter. It was like I seeing a different person. The way his face was sharp and cold was a far cry from his usual vacant expressions and happy go lucky smiles. To tell the truth, I was beginning to wonder if someone was impersonating him. Then he noticed where we were, and he instantly went from angry to his usual random self. "What are we doing here, un?" I could feel an anime sweatdrop coming on as I reminded him, "You're going to teach me how to make the clay explode, remember?"

"Hm? Oh, right!" He exclaimed as his memory finally caught up with him, "Well, creating an artistic display isn't easy, un. The chakra has to be infused into the clay in the appropriate amounts for the size of the blast that you need. Of course, your art won't do much unless it has a proper form as well, un. First, you'll practice infusing the clay with your chakra, and we'll alternate between chakra infused clay and non chakra infused clay, un. It would be a disaster if you accidentally made an armed piece of art, un! Next, we'll practice disarming a live artwork. Then we'll wrap the lesson up by seeing just how big of a bang your normal chakra infusion is, un!"

Dad gave me a quick demonstration on how to infuse clay with chakra. He said to stick with molding birds for now because they were the most versatile art creations. My first attempt ended up in a lump of clay that was too misshapen to be useful, but Dad said it was a good first try because I had managed to make it explosive. Next, he showed me how to disarm it. He was very patient with me, and he always encouraged me to ask him when I didn't understand something. I managed to disarm the clay, but I wasted a lot of chakra in the process. Dad noticed that I was struggling to mold my second attempt, and he came over to help me adjust my technique.

My second attempt was better. It slightly resembled a bird, and I wasted less chakra deactivating it. Dad helped me work out the correct techniques for another hour as I made and remade the explosive clay. Finally, I molded a passable bird. I was about to deactivate it when Dad said, "Hang on to that one, un. Now, we're going to see what would happen if it went off. Remember what I taught you before about controlling the clay after you make it, but active clay responds faster to your commands than inactive clay, un. Let's get inside the bomb shelter just in case, un." I gently set the clay bird on the ground in front of the bomb shelter window before following Dad inside the safe house.

"Alright, make it fly around a bit first so you can get a feel for the control differences. Then we'll unveil your artistic genius, un!" Dad exclaimed like an overly excited child. I would have been bouncing off the walls in excitement myself if it hadn't been for the fact that I needed to concentrate to keep the clay bird flying straight. Dad wasn't kidding when he said that the flight of the bird was more sensitive than an unexplosive bird. It responded to my commands twice as fast because my chakra linked it to me so I was controlling it internally rather than waiting for my chakra to catch up with it to manipulate its flight.

Dad came over and helped me smooth my technique out. I'm really glad that he's here to help me. Controlling this bird is a lot harder than it looks. "Watch out for that wind turbulence, un," Dad pointed out, "Make it fly a little lower." Yeah, not only do I have to manage a flying clay bird that could explode, but I also have to watch out for wind factors that could affect its flight. Thanks to Dad's help, I finally managed to get a fairly decent amount of control over the bird. "Nice," Dad approved, "Not bad for a first try, un. I crashed five birds before I got it right, un!" "Well, you had to teach yourself. I have a great sensei," I said happily.

Yeah, what I said was corny, but that's how I feel. I heard a sniffling sound and saw that Dad was crying and blowing his nose. Note to self, keep the touchy feely stuff to a minimum around Dad. "Okay," Dad sniffed, "Find a place to set it off, un. Remember to make the hand sign and say 'katsu'." I nodded and looked for a good spot to detonate my first explosive. I took a good long look at the blast area. The whole expanse of open land was littered with craters that ranged in size from a baseball to craters big enough to demolish a skyscraper. "Wow, did you make all of those, Dad?" I asked in awe. "Sadly no," Dad admitted, "I only made all of them except for the one just off to the side there," he pointed to an average sized crater, "It was left over from the previous user of this area. Everyone else doesn't use works of art that are powerful enough to cause craters, un."

I think I'm starting to see why everyone else on the range ran for the hills when they heard that Dad was coming. "I don't mean to pressure you or anything, Fai-chan, but the suspense is killing me," Dad whined as he danced from foot to foot. Oops, I kind of spaced out there. I found a small spot that didn't occupy a crater and angled the bird towards it like Dad had told me. When it was almost a foot above the ground I made the hand seal and said, "Katsu!" The explosion was much bigger than I had expected. I saw Dad adjusting his eye scope so he could take a better look at it as fire and debris roared to life on the field.

When the debris settled, I saw a small crater the size of a basket ball in the ground. "That was so awesome!" I shouted in elation. "Yeah, it was like a bang! And a whoosh, un! Oh, man wait'll the guys hear about this, un! Now that was art! Look at the size of that crater! I didn't crack the surface until my second try, un!" Dad was beside himself. "Let's do it again!" I said eagerly. "Okay, un!" Dad and I were all fired up now, but the stupid security guard came back on the speakers, "The ANBU need all detonation areas for a training session. I repeat the ANBU have requested the use of all training areas. Please, clean up your areas and vacate in an orderly fashion."

Our faces fell at the exact same moment as we slumped in disappointment. "Oh man," I whined, "I wanted to blow more stuff up!" Dad sighed, "The ANBU just had to request the bomb range today, un. Don't worry, Fai-chan, you'll get to practice more some other time, un." Then an awful thought occured to me. I would have to ride on the elevator of death again. "Dad, do we have to go back on that elevator again?" Dad looked thoughtful as he said, "Well, I don't normally do this, but I think it would be a good follow up application so I'll make an acception. Just don't expect me to do this everytime, un." We exited the safe house, and Dad formed a clay bird.

When he was done creating it, he used a new jutsu to transform it into a giant bird. Woah. It's been years since I've seen this jutsu. Dad jumped on the bird's back and held a hand out for me. I grabbed his hand, and he picked me up piggy back style. "Hold on tight, Fai-chan. I'll need both hands for take-offs, unless I'm really high up, un." I held on tight as the bird jolted off the ground. I felt us go up in a death defying, jerky spiral. Suddenly, the bird leveled out as Dad reached back to support me as I clung to his back for dear life. "It's alright now, Fai-chan," Dad soothed, "It'll be smooth sailing home from here, un."

I peeked over his shoulder and looked down to see the entire city sprawled out like a giant murial of activity. It was a great view, and we were so high up that I'm sure anyone who saw us would think that we were a low flying cloud. Yay, giant white clay birds! I watched Dad as he smoothly flew the giant bird. He made it look so easy. I know from experience that just making a small bird fly on its own is really complicated. Regardless of how complex the jutsu must be, this is an amazing way to travel. "This is so cool, dad!" I said in excitement. "Isn't it, un?" Dad said equally ecstatic. He turned his gaze back to the ground and adjusted the view on his eye scope again. I know that the eye scope is like a mini telescope that covers his right eye and allows him to see over long distances.

"Alright, we're almost over the house," Dad said, "I'm going to teleport us onto the seal on the apartment complex roof so here we go, un!" With that said, Dad rapidly performed the handseals and in a whirl of sky we were on the roof. Dad returned the bird to its normal size and let his hands deconstruct it as he checked to make sure that no one saw us. Once he was satisfied that the coast was clear, we used the good old ninja tree walking trick to scale down the building side to our door. We were home at last.

The first thing that we noticed after we entered was Uncle Sasori folding laundry in the living room as he watched the news. "Wow, you're actually doing the laundry, Sasori-danna!" Dad said in shock. "Hn," Uncle Sasori replied. Dad proceeded to the kitchen where he started cooking dinner as he told Sasori all about our training session. "You'dve been so proud if you could've seen Fai-chan today, un! She made an explosive piece of art, and there was a bang, un! This moment of inspiration, un, and then there was a whoosh, un! This whole piece of ground just went boom, un! There was this crater, un! An actual crater, un! It had to have been the size of a bowling ball, no, a basketball, un! And just, un!"

Sasori continued folding laundry like he couldn't care less, but I know that he's listening to every word. "Well," Uncle Sasori said turning to me, "you must've done very well to reduce Deidara to describing the day with an 'un' at the end of every sentence." I felt my face warm into a light blush. Sasori was rarely pleased with my progress in anything other than poisons and antidotes. I finished my homework as Uncle Sasori put the laundry away while Dad continued rambling on about how I blew up a small crater. Later we had dinner, and I went to continue studying poisons and antidotes with Sasori. After I finished reviewing with him, I went to my room to practice my taijutsu stances and read the next chapters of my books before falling asleep.

(AN: there's a change in point of view here)

Deidara finished washing the dishes and went to check on Fai. He saw her asleep with a book in her hands. He tip toed over to her bed and carefully removed the book and set it on the night stand before gently tucking her in. He kissed her on the forehead and murmured, "Good night, Fai-chan." Then he turned and quietly left her room, closing the door behind him. He walked across the hall to the room that he shared with Sasori. Sasori was sitting at his desk writing a report to Leader-sama. "Do you enjoy pretending to be an idiot?" Sasori asked without looking up. "It's not like that, Sasori-danna." "Really? Then what is it like?" Sasori challenged.

Deidara paused before asking, "Which Sasori wants to know? The spy master or my friend, un?" Sasori weighed his answer before replying, "I may be the spy master for Akatsuki, but I have taken a personal interest in this matter. Besides, this is after hours and therefore, confidential." Deidara nodded before taking a seat in his chair across from Sasori. "Everything I do is for Fai-chan. She's all that I have, un. You don't know how much it kills me to watch her go to a school where everyone hates her!" Sasori sat bolt upright as Deidara continued, "Yeah, Sasori-danna, I know, and I'm powerless to stop it! What's worse is knowing that Itachi ABUSES her, and I'm watching him slowly break down her spirit, piece by piece, un! And that's not all. I know part of Leader-sama's plan, and I'm not about to let him do this, un."

"Careful, Deidara, you're starting to talk like a traitor," Sasori warned. "I'm the traitor?! I'M THE TRAITOR?!" Deidara yelled as he stood, knocking his chair over, "He's manipulating her into becoming a criminal, un! He's going to turn her into an evil, mindless pawn that'll do his bidding without question OVER MY DEAD BODY! You want to know why I have to act like an idiot, un? Well, here's why! My daughter is going through a living hell, and she is suffering! She is going through a mental torture that most people couldn't even dream of, and I don't know how much longer she can hold out! I have to pretend to be a, a PUSH OVER so she can see how much I CARE! She wouldn't have lasted HALF as long if I would have been MYSELF! I'm a TERRORIST BOMBER! I COULDN'T SHOW HER ANY AFFECTION, AND THAT WOULD HAVE ONLY BROKEN HER DOWN FASTER!"

As Deidara panted for breath, Sasori could only blink in surprise. 'I knew that Deidara wasn't a fool,' he thought, 'Still, I would never have guessed that my serious, art obsessed partner was so tormented by the situation that to preserve his daughter's sanity he had taken on an alter ego that could show her love and affection.' "I see," Sasori said in his emotionless voice, "I hope that whatever plan you've come up with doesn't end in your death for both of your sakes." Deidara barely even registered Sasori's ending comment because he had just received an epiphany on how to break Akatsuki's hold on Fai.

AN: Well, that's the end of chapter 5. I thought that I would give some foreshadowing on what's going on behind the scenes and show what's up with Deidara. I'm trying to portray him in his role as both an Akatsuki member and Fai's father. I don't know if I did a good job with it or not, but I was hit with this inspiration for the story so I went with it. I hope that you enjoyed it!


	6. Chapter 6

AN: Ah, I'm sorry that I haven't updated in so long! I got writer's block, and I couldn't think of anything! That and I finally figured out exactly what Deidara's master plan is! Now in case you're wondering, the foreshadowing with Deidara at the end of the last chapter won't be happening yet, but he does have a plan! Also, Fai-chan is now ten/eleven years old and in the fifth grade. Kisame, do the disclaimer!

Kisame: Chibi PO'd Hiei doesn't own Naruto. Hey, isn't that the nine tailed fox kid?

AN: (bangs head on wall)

I stood in a school training clearing, concentrating on the targets that I had set up. I had long ago given up on playing with the other children at recess and had found several secluded spots in the surrounding woods where I could train undisturbed. Today, I was practicing the new target routine that Itachi-sensei had demonstrated. I jumped up high into the air and spun around. Then I released a small volley of kunai followed closely by another volley, then i quickly turned and threw two more. (AN: yeah, I totally stole this from the episode where Sasuke watches Itachi doing target practice, please don't sue me...)

The kunai in the trees all hit their marks, but the one in the blind spot was off by about four inches. Ugh, I still can't nail that one target! I sighed in frustration as I retrieved my kunai. I figured that I must be off in my timing on throwing the last two kunai. I practiced my speed at grabbing them and changing them from hand to hand behind my back. I had to learn this soon. My next training session with Itachi was tomorrow, and we were going to start sparring, which meant that if I didn't have the move down by then there would be painful consequences. Not only that, but between obstacle courses, target practice, weapon practice, and now sparring, I needed to have this down so I could perform it even when I'm exhausted. After all, an enemy ninja won't go easy on me just because I'm tired.

I was about to try again when I heard the bell ring. Oh crap! I focused chakra into my legs as I ran through the tree branches back to the recess grounds. I silently landed back within the fenced in play area and raced towards the classroom. Then it hit me. Why was I running myself into the ground to get there on time? Amane-sensei said that I was late if I was the last kid in the classroom, which I undoubtedly will be.

With that in mind, I slowed down and calmly strode down the hall and into the classroom. I nonchalantly walked to my desk and sat down. I leaned back in my chair right as the bell signaling the start of class rang. Surprisingly, Amane-sensei was too busy looking for something to notice that I was the last one in after the bell rang, sweet. "Katsura-san," my brand spankin' new tormentor, also known as a sensei, said, "where did you put the erasers?"

"I didn't touch them," I replied without conviction. "That'll be a detention during recess on Monday," sensei continued as if she hadn't heard me. Yeah, Amane-sensei has this habit of blaming everything on me, even when the erasers are sticking out of Toma's desk right in front of her. Despite the fact that I have become the official scape goat of the class, I didn't feel hurt or sad. Actually, I smirked as I thought of the little 'present' I had left for sensei in her desk. I figured that if she was going to be on my case for stuff I didn't do, I might as well give her something to really complain about.

The rest of the day passed quickly, and I was disappointed. She didn't open her desk drawer once. I wanted to see the look on her face when she discovered what was inside. I silently sighed to myself as the last bell of the day clanged, and the class was dismissed. Could she have sensed the trap? I doubted it. No one saw me put it there, and I made sure to mask the chakra signature. Oh well, at least my weekend won't be clouded by a parent-teacher conference on Monday. Actually, even that wouldn't have been too bad. Dad and Uncle Sasori seem to have gotten used to it after the fifth conference and my third trip to the principle's office.

Okay, so maybe I shouldn't have graffitied a picture of Amane-sensei reading Icha Icha Paradise while having a gigantic a nosebleed on the wall, but it was so worth it just to see the look on her face! It was priceless! Although, I did get the 'I didn't raise you to be a delinquent' speech from Dad. I do feel guilty for making him worry, and I hate disappointing him, but she deserved it!

I was so wrapped up in my thoughts that I almost didn't notice the wire attached to my backpack. Fortunately, it was only a simple wire trap that was easily disarmed. Now, I feel insulted that they didn't even bother to attach a second wire or some kind of switch or anything else. Jeez, do they think that I'm some kind of idiot?! No, I can't let them bother me. Deep breaths, Fai. Oh, now I'm talking to myself, great. What's next an inner me?

I had just calmed myself down when I sensed four presences coming up behind me. I grabbed my pack and spun on my heels to face them, while holding the wire behind my back. Oh, great. It's the 'we hate Fai' club. Consisting of president Misame flanked by vice president Koema, minion 1 aka Ren, and tag-along-Aya. "Well, well, if it isn't the weirdo," Misame taunted. "Why don't you just drop out, freak?" Koema sneered. "Go back to loser ville with the other rejects," Ren joined in. "Yeah," Aya said so unoriginally. If they were trying to intimidate me or get a reaction other than soft snorting from supressed laughter then they were in for a rude awakening.

"Tch. Those are the lamest taunts I've ever heard," I retorted, "Go home and play with your barbie dolls, maybe they will actually care what you think." I could practically hear the boxing championship fight bell dinging in the background. Misame swaggered up to me and flipped her hair into my face as she looked at me in contempt, "Hmph. What a pathetic comeback. Especially from a girl who will most likely be a slut before she turns sixteen!" At that comment her little squad oohed and snickered. Oh, she did not! Misame stood there staring me in the eye with a smirk of triumph. I forced a small smile and moved aside as I let go of the wire that I had been holding to prevent their own trap from going off.

I saw her eyes widen in realization just before a pail of worms dumped its wriggling contents onto her head. I will admit that I thoroughly enjoyed the sound of her shrieking, "Get it off, get it off! You'll pay for this, you freak!" I shot her a gloating half smile as I walked out the door. I'd love to see her try it.

Ever since she transferred to this school two years ago, Misame and her clique have been the bane of my existence. They never miss a chance to get me in trouble, or to attempt to humiliate me. Even though she's only been here for two years, Misame is the most popular girl in my class and that means that while she isn't the best kunoichi she is the social power house. Why does she hate me so much? Well, it probably has to do with the fact that she looks perfect, is popular, and has been the sensei's pet for two years in a row. While I'm the freaky outcast with mouths on her hands and the best kunoichi in the class. Yeah, I could kick their butts any day of the week, and yet they manage to make my life even more of a living hell, show me the justice in that. Well, on the bright side with Misame around the rest of the class merely ignores me and shuts me out, but that's a huge improvement.

"Fai-imouto!" Someone shouted joyfully. No. Way. I spun around to see Tobi-niisan running at me. "Tobi-niisan!" I yelled as I happily ran into a big hug that swept me off my feet. While I was being spun around in a wildly happy hug, I sensed a presence that I haven't felt in forever come up next to us. "Yo," he said. "Hidan-niisan!" I squealed as Tobi set me down. "What are you two doing here?" I asked excitedly. "The others got called away on buisness so we got stuck baby sitting," Hidan said sounding miffed. "Tobi will take good care of Fai-imouto because Tobi is a good boy!" Tobi gushed. I was about to glomp them both when a muffled boom followed by a loud shriek came from inside the classroom.

I felt a smirk slide across my face as Amane-sensei came running out of the building covered from head to toe in neon yellow dye. "KATSURA!" She shrieked in rage, but she stopped short when she saw Hidan-niisan and Tobi-niisan with me. I don't blame her because the sight of Hidan-niisan alone usually does this to people. I resisted the urge to run behind Hidan-niisan and stick my toungue at her as Tobi-niisan looked at Amane-sensei with his head cocked to one side. Tobi still had that confused tilt to his head as he asked, "Why is imouto's sensei yellow?"

That set her off as she pointed at me and yelled, "She put one of those THINGS in my desk and set it off with this COLOR inside it! That little BRAT should never have been let in this school in the first place, and-" She was cut off by a death glare laced with killing intent from Tobi-niisan, "Fai-imouto is a good girl. You won't talk about imouto like that anymore now." Go Tobi-niisan! However, Amane-sensei wasn't done yet, "I'm going to call her father-" This time Hidan-niisan cut her off, "Her dad's out of town, which means that I'm in charge, and I don't give a flying f. Now, go do some paper work, you fugly skank!"

Amane-sensei gaped at him, opening and closing her mouth like a fish, before she left in a huff muttering about 'dire consequences' and the like. I love my dysfunctional family! "I didn't know you could put things inside the bombs," Hidan stated as he tried to hide his curiosity. "Yeah," I said with pride, "I asked Dad if they could carry stuff inside of them, and he'd never tried it before so we started exprimenting, and we found out that we could make the insides hollow and put almost anything inside!" I talked about all the different things that I had tried like poisons, darts, dyes, etc. all the way to Tobi-niisan's apartment.

Whenever my older brothers babysit, we either stay at my house or go to Tobi's. Apparently, Hidan has cultish periphernalia around his house, and no one wants me to know about it. Whatever. I get to hang out with Hidan-niisan and Tobi-niisan, I get to hang out with Hidan-niisan and Tobi-niisan! This is going to be the coolest weekend ever! I skipped through the front door and headed for the coffee table in the living room. I quickly finished my homework and read a couple of chapters of a chuunin level poison and antidote text along with copying the directions to preparing a simple poison and antidote. Yep, starting next week uncle Sasori will be showing me how to make the poisons and antidotes!

I put my books away and looked over at Tobi and Hidan who were playing Halo2 and sighed quietly. They would be playing that for hours now. I watched them for fifteen minutes before I got bored. I decided to make my own fun so I removed the glove from my right hand and molded an unexplosive bird. I examined it as my hand spat it out. My clay animals look like classic chibi versions of the real thing, or at least they have the chibi outline. The fine details of my 'artworks' are conspicuously missing. Like they don't have eyes, feather marks, claws on their feet, etc. Even if the fine details are lacking, these little babies can blow up a semi truck sized object when I need them to, a fact that Dad brags about every chance he gets.

Anyways, I sent my chibi clay bird flying around the room so I could practice controlling it in closed quarters. Of course, it wasn't long until I got bored of sending a clay, non-explosive bird flitting around the room. I glanced back at my nii-san's who were still absorbed in their game. I felt a mischievious grin coming on as I sent the bird into a slow, silent dive towards Tobi-niisan, who was flopping all over the place in an attempt to see the screen at the best angle. I stopped the clay bird just before it hit Tobi and made it lightly peck his shoulder before sending it flapping up to the ceiling.

Tobi-niisan turned to look behind him, but he was too slow. He gave a little shrug and returned to the game. I sent the bird back down to peck his shoulder and then it flew up before Tobi-niisan could turn around. Now Tobi was on guard, which made it really fun. Peck, flap, turn, peck, flap, turn. Faster and faster we went until Hidan-niisan finally caught on and grabbed my bird before it could fly away. I pouted as he shot an annoyed look my way. Tobi-niisan, on the other hand, was delighted with my bird. I did a few aerial acrobatics with it to show him just how much control I had while Hidan turned off the game and watched us with a bored expression on his face.

"Meh," Hidan-niisan muttered, "I'm going to go pray. Don't burn the house down or throw any wild parties without me." "NO! Not in Tobi's room, Tobi has been a good boy!" Tobi-niisan wailed as Hidan-niisan locked himself in Tobi's room. "Tobi-niisan, why is Hidan-niisan praying a bad thing?" I asked. No one will tell me why Hidan-niisan's religion is so bad, and I really want to know. Unfortunately, Tobi-niisan wasn't about to spill the beans. "It's just bad, and that's all Tobi can say." Just then Hidan's voice came through the door, "Oh, Jashin-sama..." He chanted. "Tobi-niisan, what's a Jashin-sama?" I asked.

Tobi-niisan responded by picking me up and running into the living room. "Ah, imouto heard something bad! Tobi is a bad boy for not protecting imouto's ears! Tobi must punish himself!" Tobi said hysterically as he grabbed a lexicon and started hitting himself on the head. Hard. "Woah! Tobi-niisan, don't!" I yelled frantically as I tried to stop him, but Tobi dodged all of my attempts to restrain him. I really didn't want Tobi-niisan to hurt himself so I did the first thing that I could think of. I lied for his own good. "Um, I didn't say anything bad. I just asked about...the...jazz in the sauna!" Oh my gosh, jazz in the sauna? He's not going to buy this.

"What?" Tobi-niisan asked as he paused momentarily. "Uh," I stammered, "yeah, someone said something about jazz music...being played in the sauna?" There was a painfully long pause before Tobi finally set the lexicon down and said, "Tobi doesn't know. Tobi never used the sauna. Fai-imouto would have to ask Sempai." Oh thank God, he fell for it. "Uh, yeah, thanks anyway, Tobi-niisan!" I said in relief, "Um, how about a round of Texas no Hold em?" Ah poker, I've been hooked ever since Uncle Sasori and Uncle Kisame let me play a few hands with them last month. We haven't told Dad yet, and for Uncle Sasori and Uncle Kisame's sakes I hope he never finds out.

"Tobi doesn't know if imouto should be gamboling," Tobi-niisan hesitated. I gave him the tried and true puppy dog eyes no jutsu as I wheedled, "We'll only be using potatoe chips, and it's just like any other card game." Tobi-niisan gave a little sigh as he went to get the cards and the crinkly potatoe chips. Oh, I'm good. "What are you two doing?" Hidan-niisan asked as he literally popped up out of nowhere. Woah! "H-hidan-san, Tobi was-imouto was," Tobi-niisan stammered. I tried to salvage the situation, but instead I blurted out, "We were only going to play poker." Oh, crap. Me and my big mouth. "You mean you two were going to do this behind Deidara's back, and you didn't invite me?" Hidan-niisan asked in a mock injured voice.

I inwardly sighed with relief. "Would you like to play with us, Hidan-niisan?" I asked. Hidan gave me a feral grin and slid into the chair at the head of the table. He casually rested his feet up on the table top as he said, "Sure. It might actually be entertaining to clobber, I mean teach you the ropes. Winner gets to pick tonight's movie." I quickly sat on his right side and Tobi sat across from me on Hidan's left. Tobi quickly counted out an equal number of chips into three piles for us and declared that he would deal. With that the game was on.

Hidan-niisan didn't go easy on me. From the first deal, he had his poker face on and was going for the win. It's extremely hard to read Hidan-niisan because he bluffs effectively, and he actually enjoys the stare downs between players. Tobi-niisan plays carefully. I quickly figured out that he only plays when he has good cards, but on occasion he gets overly excited and bets on nothing, though he always fidgets when he does that. I became so engrossed in the game that I didn't even realize someone had ordered a pizza until I was halfway through my slice of pepperoni. Unfortunately, we had to quit when my right hand suddenly decided to chew on my cards. Ugh, I can't believe I forgot to put my glove back on! This is so embarrasing!

I removed the ruined playing cards from my hand and gloved it before it could eat something else. "I'm sorry," I apologized, "I forgot that I didn't have my glove on." Tobi-niisan was quick to forgive me, and he nearly smuthered me with a sympathetic hug. Hidan-niisan just hnn'd as he tossed the crumpled cards into an open trash bin. "Alright," Hidan-niisan said,"Since the game's over, and I was the chip leader I get to choose the movie. We're watching Saw!" "B-but Hidan-san, imouto is too young to see that movie!" Tobi-niisan protested. "She'll live," Hidan retorted as he walked into the living room and began setting up the movie.

Tobi-niisan grabbed a bowl of popcorn and we all crammed onto the couch. That movie was scary. Tobi-niisan and I were soon clinging to each other, and I lost count of the number of times that he shielded my eyes. Hidan-niisan was rolling his eyes at us half way through the movie. He didn't think it was that scary or intense. Well, he wasn't a sheltered teen or an eleven year old girl! Finally, the movie was over, and I was shaking worse than a polar bear with hypothermia. "Bad Hidan-san!" Tobi lectured, "You scared imouto! Come on imouto, Tobi will read you a nice bedtime story, and bad Hidan-san can't come!" "Hn," Hidan grunted.

Tobi-niisan gave me a piggy back ride to the guest room and tucked me in. Under normal circumstances, I would have complained about being treated like a six year old, but I was scared out of my mind so I let it slide this time. "What story would imouto like to hear tonight?" Tobi-niisan asked. I quickly grabbed my posion and antidote book and handed it to him. Tobi stared at the book for a few seconds before shrugging his shoulders and opening it to chapter one. I listened to Tobi-niisan until the words became long and complicated, and I drifted off to sleep.

AN: Whew, it's finally done! I hope that it was worth the wait. The next chapter is the last chapter that will be a one year overview. After that the story will move more like a normal story with each chapter actually happening within a few days or weeks of each other, and the more well known Naruto characters will come into the story. Enjoy.


	7. Chapter 7

AN: Hi everyone! This is the last year long overview chapter! After this one the pace slows down a bit, and the main Naruto characters come into the story line, yay! I'm sorry that it took me so long to write this chapter, but since she's older now her personality will be defined mostly by this chapter so I had to write it just right. I hope that she comes across the way I wanted her to. Fai is now eleven/twelve years old, and she's just graduated at the top of her class from the school from hell! Okay, Tobi do the disclaimer.

Tobi: Chibi PO'd Hiei doesn't own Naruto, but she did create imouto. Tobi loves his imouto!

AN: Aww...

I took deep breaths as I stepped forward doing a rapid punch combination before turning on my heel in a fast round house kick behind me. I back flip, drop, and roll to the left in one smooth motion before lifting myself halfway off the ground and kicking out with both feet behind me before pushing up with my hands and push backwards with my lower back to do a short back flip onto my feet. Then I come up alternately blocking and punching like an invisible shinobi was striking at me. I was about to try the new technique to quickly shift from being in front of an opponent to behind them when I heard Tobi-niisan walking up the hall to my room.

I shifted out of my fighting stance and opened the door. "Hey, Tobi-niisan! Did you need something?" I ask.

Tobi nodded his head rapidly, "Tobi finished making lunch because Tobi is a good boy!"

"Awesome! What did you make?"

"Tobi made onigiri!"

"That's good," I said as we headed down the short hall to the kitchen. Dad and Uncle Sasori are gone on a mission so Tobi-niisan is taking care of me until they get back. I would have made lunch, but ever since the incident where I burned ramen I've been banned from the kitchen. How did I manage to burn ramen? I have no idea. Burning the ramen was even more embarrassing than the time when I overcooked a take home pizza and redefined extra crispy. It wasn't my fault that the stupid timer didn't go off!

I was pulled out of my cooking dilemmas when the smell of rice balls hit my nose. They smelled kind of like rice and seaweed. The aroma is okay, but it's definitely not appetizing. I picked up one that looked like it might be a tuna ball. I took a bite and was met with the weird salty flavor of the seaweed mixing with sticky rice and the sharp flavor of smoked tuna.

It's not the greatest taste in the world, but I've been working out for two hours so I was starving. Even though I wanted to stuff myself with food, I made myself eat the savory rice ball slowly. I like rice balls as much as the next person, but if I eat them too quickly they'll upset my stomach. I opened the fridge and took a swig of milk out of the jug. Ahh, nothing like milk to quell the savory flavors of rice balls. I wiped my mouth on the back of my glove and stuck the jug back in the fridge.

"Imouto! That's disgusting!" Tobi-niisan yelled in shock before running over to practically smother me in a hug, "You've been around Sasori too long. He's corrupting Tobi's imouto!"

I rolled my eyes. I was raised by two men who aren't gay, and I'm always babysitted by either Kisame, Tobi, or Hidan as a last resort. Of course I'd pick up some guy habits, but come on! Doesn't everyone drink out of the milk jug or carton at least once in their lives? I grabbed Tobi's arm, "Niisan, you're crushing me," I said in an overly breathless voice.

"Gomenasai!" Tobi yelled with chibi tears in his eyes as he let go.

"It's okay, niisan," I reassured him as I grabbed another tuna ball. Tobi sniffled and wiped the remaining moisture from his eyes I munched on my second tuna ball. I heard a thumping noise outside the door and sensed two very familiar chakra signatures. I headed to the door as the key rattled in the lock, and dad and Sasori entered the house in their civilian clothes. I would have run over and tackled dad, but Tobi beat me to it.

"Deidara-senpai!" Tobi squealed as he tackled dad. Sasori sidestepped my delighted niisan and raging father as he closed the door.

"Get off me!" Dad snapped as he put Tobi into a headlock, "Get down! Bad Tobi!"

Uncle Sasori and I exchanged looks before I hugged him, "Welcome home, Uncle Sasori! I kept that poison brewing for you!"

Uncle Sasori gave me a small smile, "It would be good to be home if Deidara would quit embarrassing himself. I'll check on the poison, and we can continue our discussion on chapter thirty-three as soon as I've unpacked."

"You got it!" I replied as he headed for his and dad's room as dad jumped up.

"I'm not embarrassing myself, danna! It's all Tobi's fault, un!" He whined.

"Hn," Sasori grunted as he closed the door.

I ran over and hugged dad, "Welcome home, dad!"

"Fai-chan!" Dad yelled as he swung me around into a spinning hug.

"Dad!" I yelped, "Put me down! I'm not a little kid anymore!"

Dad frowned as he set me back on the floor, "I know, I know, un. You're just too cute!"

"Uh, yeah. Anyways, Tobi-niisan made tuna rice balls for lunch. Want some?" I offered.

"Tuna balls? Why didn't you say so. I'm starving, un!" Dad just about skipped over to the kitchen. Sometimes I swear he has mood swings.

"Fai-chan," Dad called from the kitchen, "Have you been drinking out of the milk jug again?"

"Uh...yeah?" I replied, not sure which way this conversation was going. Dad's not very consistent with little things like drinking out of the milk jug. One day he's perfectly fine with it, and the next day he gets all upset about it.

"Oh, okay," He said, "Just so long as it wasn't Tobi, un."

"Why doesn't senpai like Tobi? Tobi is a good boy!" Tobi whimpered.

I sighed and decided to get out of the line of fire. I walked up to Sasori and dad's room and knocked on the door. "Come in, Fai-chan," Sasori called. I opened the door and entered into the organized chaos that was their shared room. Uncle Sasori was standing by the chemistry set that was sitting on his desk with his back to the door. The puppet parts had all been cleared away, but there were still clay splatters everywhere.

I glanced over at the head board on dad's bed. I liked the multitude of pictures of him with mom. Although, I do wish he would burn the pictures of me growing up. He has one of me covered in brownie batter! Brownie batter! I mentally shook my head as I closed the door behind me, muffling the sounds of Tobi whining and dad yelling...again.

I turned my attention back to Sasori as he experimentally swirled the neon green liquid in the flask. "Hm, good consistency. You did well, Fai-chan," Sasori said, "Now, tell me the name, symptoms, and treatment, go!"

I took a quick breath, "Asenix poison. Muscle tissue begins deterioration one minute after injection into the bloodstream. It will take effect in two hours if ingested, although it can be detected in food by its tendency to smell like burnt raisins. Muscles will continue to deteriorate, and death is certain once the poison enters a major organ. Death usually occurs within fifteen minutes of injection and three hours of ingestion. The liquification of all organs and deteriorated muscles are tell tale post mortem signs of the poison's presence in the human body. The most effective treatment is immediate extraction of the poison by a trained medic nin, but if none are available within the treatment time frame the antidote should be injected into the bloodstream immediately."

Sasori nodded before continuing, "If the Hokage ingests asenix poison, and the symptoms go unnoticed for two hours would there be enough time to make the antidote on sight, assuming all necessary ingredients are available?"

"No," I responded immediately, "The herbs must be measured in exact quantities then be crushed and boiled down to six molarity concentration before being cooled, poured into test tubes, and allowed to age in a cool room. The test tubes must be turned by one quarter of a twist every hour for the next three days until it will be safe to use."

"If a shinobi holds his breath as the air born poison Kozori is used, and he leaps clear of the battle field, how long must he wait until he can breathe freely again? Name the symptoms and treatment for Kozori."

I closed my eyes and mentally did the calculations necessary to answer the question, "Assuming that the shinobi leapt clear of the poison right away and wasn't fully engulfed, Kozori as a thin air born poison would stay in the human nostril for approximately one minute, possibly less if the shinobi can safely blow most of the poison out of their nose. If the shinobi didn't leap clear and was completely engulfed, then the poison would enter the bloodstream through the eyes in a matter of seconds."

Now came the easy part, "Kozori affects both the eyes and the lungs. If it enters the eyes only, the poison is not fatal, but it will blind the shinobi if not treated within the hour. Because of this Kozori has traditionally been used against opponents who specialize in doujutsu. If Kozori enters the lungs, it immediately reacts with the carbon dioxide to form a highly potent acid. The lungs begin to spasm in an attempt to get rid of the harmful substance, which results in the shinobi coughing his lungs out. Kozori works within a matter of minutes so the only chance of survival is to have the antidote on hand in vapor form."

"Good," Sasori nodded approvingly, "Now is there anything you would like to discuss in chapter thirty-three?"

"Chapter thirty-three was on improvising antidotes to well known poisons. It was fairly straightforward in theory, however, it would be very difficult in practice."

"How so?" Sasori asked. I always wonder why he asks questions to which he already knows the answer. Maybe he wants to hear my thoughts on the subject? Is this a trick question?

"Well, you would have to have an intimate knowledge of the poison and its composition, and the antidote and its composition. Then you'd have to have an intimate knowledge of every herb, chemical, and drug in the immediate vicinity. Not to mention the fact that you'd have to be able to recognize everything that could be used as an antitoxin. Then you'd have to somehow manage to figure out the exact quantities of each item needed in an extremely limited time frame. I'd say that if you don't know the exact formulas needed before hand you're pretty much screwed."

"You phrased that succinctly. Now I won't have to explain why we will be studying and memorizing alternative antidotes from now on," Sasori said as he handed me five large books from off the shelves, "These will be your required texts. I expect you to have the first fifteen herbs, chemicals, and drugs in each of these memorized by the next lesson. Dismissed."

I blinked in surprise, "Already? But we just got started!"

Uncle Sasori chuckled, "There's not much left to teach you as far as most poisons go. Practically nothing left for you to learn about their usual antidotes either. Finding less common and new antidotes is a completely different matter though. It's something that can't be taught in a single session."

"What about creating new poisons?" I asked.

Sasori gave me a slightly annoyed look, "Why haven't I given you any new texts on poisons?"

"Uh…because…I need to know how to make the, um, antidote?" I guessed.

He sighed, "How do you intend to create an unknown poison if you can't even think outside the box enough to improvise on or modify a well known antidote to a well known poison? Even if you do somehow manage to stumble upon a new poison, what good is it to you if you don't have any idea what it does and have no antidote to it? You could just as easily poison yourself, and then where would you be? Dead."

I felt an embarrassed flush crawling up my neck to my face, "Oh. Right. That was stupid of me."

"It's a common rookie mistake. At least you're intelligent enough to acknowledge that it was a mistake," Uncle Sasori grunted.

I grinned as I headed out the door with my new books under my arm, "Thanks, Uncle Sasori!"

He nodded, "Tell that idiot father of yours that if he's made a mess rough housing with Tobi I'm not cleaning it up."

"Okay."

I slipped out of the room with a last glance at my uncle crouched over the desk. My ears were instantly assaulted by dad yelling, "BAD TOBI!"

"WHY DOES SENPAI HATE TOBI?!" my nii-san wailed.

"BECAUSE, UN!"

I sighed. And here I thought I was supposed to be the child in this family. "Dad," I said as I walked out into the living room, "Uncle Sasori says that if you make a mess rough housing with Tobi-niisan, he's not cleaning it up."

"Hmph! As if danna ever cleans up anything around here, un!" Dad vented.

"Fai-chan," Tobi sniffled, "Is Tobi a good boy?"

How many times do I have to say this to him? Seriously, I have to say this at least once every time I see him. I wonder if he'll have a mental break down if I don't. I put my hand on his shoulder, "Tobi-niisan is a very good boy."

He whooped and swung me around just like dad had earlier. Ugh!

"Nii-san, you can put me down now!" I said, hoping that he would get the hint. Fortunately, dad is just a hair bit faster on the up take then Tobi. He ran right over and whacked him on the head with a rolled up newspaper.

"Put her down this instant!" Dad yelled as he snatched me away from Tobi-niisan, "Can't you see that Fai-chan doesn't like it! What's wrong with you, un?!"

Let me just say that getting spun around in circles by Tobi so fast that I was seeing double only to be swept into a very tight and extremely protective hug by my dad is pure torture on my stomach. My gut feels like everything is sloshing around inside, and the walls won't stop spinning. I think I'm going to hurl.

"Are you okay, Fai-chan? You look a bit green, un," Dad said in concern, "Do you need to lie down? Need a toilet, some water, fresh air, un?"

"Oh, oh, put your head between your legs and take slow deep breaths!" Tobi threw in his two cents.

"Bathroom," I gasped as I broke out of dad's grip. I could feel the tuna balls coming back up. I raced for the bathroom and jumped onto the wall to avoid uncle Sasori. I dashed into the bathroom and slid on my knees to embrace the toilet like my life depended on it.

I'm not going to go into any more detail, but just let me say that upchucked tuna balls are the nastiest things on the face of the planet. This is one of those times when having an extremely overprotective father is a good thing. He was there to rub my back and hand me a glass of water and some tums. On the down side, he also insists on taking my temperature and checking my pulse. He would've called in an appointment with a doctor if uncle Sasori hadn't dragged him off by the ear declaring, "She just needs some rest."

Three cheers for uncle Sasori! He doesn't show as much emotion around me as he did when I was a kid, but he's always got my back. As a matter of fact, I think I'll take his advice by skipping my nightly drills just for today. Heaven knows what Dad would do if I ended up making myself puke again...

AN: I hope that the chapter was worth the wait. Since I can finally start writing the main parts of the story now, I'll try to update sooner.


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